Family Legacies
by crimsonfirebolt
Summary: Sebastian Fitzroy knows better than most that the world is not split into good people and death eaters, but what he's trying to work out is if you can be both. Its Seb's turn to go to Hogwarts with his friends Arcturus Lestrange and Matt Rosier. He gets sorted into slytherin with Draco, meets some red-headed twins and befriends a bushy haired girl who cant stop asking him questions
1. Chapter 1 - Diagon Alley

Astoria Fitzroy was definitely not perfectly ordinary, thank you very much. Though, walking up the long, gravel path to the manor after a very long day at work, it was times like these, she thought, that she wouldn't mind it so much.

She had only started working at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Incidents last week, but after a few days of not getting a chance to sit down, she was starting to hate these long walks from their apparition point up to the house.

Still, at least she had made it home before dark this time. It wasn't gone 6 o' clock yet, so she should have plenty of time for a nice, relaxing bath before Keaper had made dinner.

That thought had her nearly skipping up the stone steps to the front door. Unlocked as always, no one could get through the wards and up to the front door without them knowing about it first, so there was no need to lock it.

Her flat work shoes clipped across the tiled entrance hall as she removed her wet cloak and placed it on the banister. The house elves would clean and dry it to ready it for another early start tomorrow, and they weren't expecting any visitors in the meantime. This work had definitely made her drop some of her more pointless hang-ups about presentation.

Turning towards the stairs, she smirked as she noticed her reflection in the mirror on the wall. Her black hair was tied into a side plait all but covering the shaved and scarred side of her head. The plain, blue work robes that marked her out as a trainee healer were rather crinkled. In short, she looked nothing like the proud and well put together Astoria Fitzroy that had left Hogwarts as Head Girl just seven weeks ago.

It wouldn't last too long though. Two years of this running around as a trainee healer, then she would be allowed to specialise in the potions department, she thought as she pulled her long hair out of the plait.

Looking around she realised how quiet the house was. Not that that was peculiar. It was only her and her brother Sebastian living here anymore. And the house elves, of course. But still, she'd be glad when September the first came around and Seb could go off to Hogwarts. Sure, she'd miss her little brother, but living in a big empty house can't be good for an eleven-year-old. Especially this big, empty house with her now working at all hours six days a week.

"Seb?" she called up as she scaled the grand, wooden staircase.

The staircase was made of a dark wood, as were most of the floors apart from in the entrance hall and kitchen which were white stone tiles. The walls were a dark navy colour, but the white ceilings and large, full length windows kept the manor from looking gloomy.

There was a quiet pop off to her side as she reached the top of the staircase. Rusty had appeared next to her. Small and still very young for a house elf, he barely came up to her knees.

"Mistress is back early. Is mistress be wanting anything from Rusty?" he said as he worried at the navy fabric hanging around his waist.

"A bath would be lovely, thank you." She smiled as he followed beside her, nodding his head.

"Yes, mistress. Keaper be wanting Rusty to inform you that dinner will be in one hour, and Master had asked for chicken pie." He paused as she passed into her room. "Keaper is wanting to ask if you will be joining Master Sebastian to be eating in the kitchen?"

"I will, thank you, Rusty." She took a seat on the edge of her bed as she eased her shoes off of her tired feet. "Where is Sebastian?"

Rusty, who had been on his way towards the bathroom to run her bath, turned back towards her with a solemn look in his large, brown eyes.

"Master Sebastian has been in his main bedroom all day, mistress. Rusty has been forbidden to disturb him until dinner is ready." The house elf paused as he looked towards where Sebastian's room was and continued in a frightened stage whisper as if he were worried he would be scolded. "Rusty is very worried about young master, mistress. Rusty has not even been able to help young master start packing! And with master leaving on Saturday!"

Astoria smiled at the overdramatic young elf. "I'll speak to him before my bath then. I'm sure he'll let you in to help him finish packing later."

Reluctantly, she got up from her bed and nodded at the house elf as he squeaked his thanks to her and ran off into the bathroom as she made her way down the hall to her brother's room.

Knocking on the door to her brother's room, she gently pushed the door open.

"Seb?" She saw him on the other side of the room. He was standing near the large sash window looking into the full-length mirror.

He made no sign he had heard her though, so she repeated herself as she walked across the wooden floor towards him.

His room was quite large, with tall ceilings and a large fireplace. The walls in here were a dark grey colour, and the bed coverings were black. But the wooden floor boards were painted white like the ones in her room, and overall, it was light and airy.

Sebastian looked up at her through the mirror as she came up behind him. The pained expression on his face nearly stopped her in her tracks, but no, it wasn't just the expression. He had his usually messy black hair combed flat across his head, and the dress shirt he was wearing was all done up and tucked in. He was standing straight backed as always, but he was looking so serious. He looked neater than she had ever seen him.

He looked like father, she realised as she sat on the edge of his double bed. Or, what she imagined father must have looked like when he was younger. Right down to the blue eyes that she hadn't inherited.

Just as she was working out something to say, he spoke first.

"It's silly, I know," he said, catching her eye then looking back to his reflection. "I just..." He paused as he tried to find the right words to say.

"I just wanted to see what it would look like." He turned towards her, then added, "For Saturday."

"Seb." She sighed internally. While there were many reasons she missed her mother, this was definitely high on the list. "You don't have to look like Father. No one is expecting you to..." She stopped. Damn it, this was hard.

"Expecting what?" He turned his suddenly cold eyes to her again. "No one is expecting me to live up to him? No one is expecting what, Story?" he said, using Astoria's nickname like always.

"I didn't mean that, and you know it!" She sighed again as he started rifling his hands through his hair, messing it up.

He stood there in silence as he rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and undid the collar on his shirt. Then, really quietly, he said, "I'm not worried about that."

She looked at him carefully, trying to judge whether that was an opening to talk or a dismissal, deciding on the former.

"But, you are worrying about something?" she said slowly. "I mean, other than the usual nerves that everyone gets before they start school?"

He took a very slow breath as he looked at her now. "You think I looked like dad just now. Yes?" Stopping long enough for her to nod, he carried on. "What do I look like now?"

"Like yourself." She furrowed her brow in confusion, knowing there was something she was missing here.

"And who do I look like, Story?" he said quietly, turning back to the mirror. "Who do you always say I look like? Who did Mum always say I looked like?"

"Oh."

"Yes, oh." He flopped down on the pillows at the head of his bed. "I can already feel the stares on the platform." He peeked up at her from below the arm he had thrown over his face. "I looked in the pensive today at an old memory Mum had of Uncle Hydrus. Just to see how much alike we are."

Astoria winced involuntarily. It wasn't just the messy hair or the way he dressed either. She'd seen the memories. Heck, she had her own memories of Uncle Hydrus from before he got put away. The way he laughed and the way he stood, she even recognised the way her brother's blue eyes lit up when he found something amusing or interesting in him.

Stupid St Mungos, she thought. She should have seen this coming, but she had been so preoccupied lately.

She could tell Seb was watching her face as she confirmed what he had been thinking.

It wasn't like he would even be worried about school so much. None of the other kids would know what Hydrus looked like, though the teachers would be another matter. But the platform, with all the parents and wizarding families.

"I could come with you." She could hear the hesitancy in her words. Only her second week into work, asking for a day off wouldn't go down well. Even for her.

"No, you can't." He sat up slowly. "It's fine. I'll be fine. Once I'm on the train, it'll be fine." He got up, picking up the book from the bedside table next to him and throwing it roughly into the trunk on the floor.

Astoria watched as he went over to the desk by the fireplace and started unwrapping parcels.

"I could ask the Rosiers? They'll be bringing Archie and Matt. You could go with them?"

"No, I'll meet them on the train. I'd rather not stand around as they say goodbye. Anyway, we've already planned everything. Keaper will bring me to the apparition point in Kings Cross." He smiled at her as he sat down in his desk chair, seemingly back to his normal self. "It'll be fine, Story. I just had a lot of time to fret about it today. I'll meet everyone on the train."

He went quiet for a moment, then changed the subject. "Rusty is upset with me, isn't he?"

She smiled.

"Yes. Very. He's distraught that you haven't let him help you pack." Laughing lightly, she tried to put as much disapproval into her voice as possible as she picked up a discarded piece of wrapping paper from the books on his bed. "Though, it doesn't look like you've even started."

"I wouldn't want him to miss out on the fun now, would I?" He hit back, smirking again now, Hydrus' smirk, a little voice in the back of her head added.

"I'm just double checking what we bought the other week. I'm going to go back to Diagon Alley tomorrow and pick up the last couple things."

"You know I don't like you using the house elves as your personal apparition service."

"Just a quick trip." He smiled. "It does get pretty boring here sometimes with you gone, and now everyone being too busy to visit. I haven't had anyone over all week. Plus, it's your fault we didn't buy everything the first time round. I don't know what time you get back, and I can't go without my uniform now, can I?"

"Whatever. Be careful. Bring your wand, and if you get killed, come back as a ghost, so I can scream at you." She stood up. "I'm having a bath before dinner, so don't make a racket." Saying so, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

.

.

Sebastian had woken up early the next morning hoping to miss the mad rush of all the students getting new supplies from Diagon Alley. Which was exactly what he was doing, he supposed.

It hadn't worked overly well. It was only 9 a.m. and already raining heavily, but as he stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron into the magical side, it was nearly as busy as he had ever seen it. Some people were hurrying from shop to shop to avoid the downpour while others were huddled in families under hastily cast impervious charms. Which, in the case of one unfortunate family, was rather heavily leaking.

Rusty had dropped him off in the arrivals room of the pub. One of the many apparition points dotted along the road. Though you could apparate out wherever you wanted, it was best to know you wouldn't be arriving on top of someone else.

He had to get to Madam Malkin's to get his school robes, then the apothecary for his potions supplies. He'd already got everything else on his list last time they were here, but his sister had wanted his potions ingredients to be as fresh as possible.

Pulling the hood of his short, navy cloak forward, he splashed his way down towards Malkin's shop. He was in no rush to get out of the rain as his cloak was charmed against the wet conditions, but it was best to try to get the robes out of the way as soon as possible, as she'd probably be more and more busy the later it got.

Madam Malkin's was just a few shops down from Gringotts wizarding bank. It was glass fronted with a sign hanging down advertising 'Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions.' Sebastian pushed the old, wooden door open, stomping the water from his black boots on the mat as the door closed behind him.

"Hogwarts, dear?" Malkin asked, glancing up at him from beside the counter.

He removed his hood as he walked up to the counter. "Yes please, Madam."

"Oh! Master Fitzroy." She started as she got a good look at him. "You will be going to Hogwarts then, will you?"

He was starting to lose count of the amount of times he had been asked that lately. It seemed the whole of the wizarding world was aware he had been living in northern Germany with his Aunt and her family since his mother died. Durmstrang would be the obvious choice from there, but now that his sister was of age and had finished school, he had moved back home.

Malkin was still talking as she shepherded him through, past the counter, and into the main area of the shop.

"We have another young lady in getting fitted for Hogwarts at the moment too. There. Just stand on that stool. I expect you'll be wanting the full package, all extras included? I'll be with you in a moment."

Malkin wandered away into the back, shouting for her assistant to come down.

Sebastian eyed the nervous looking girl with big bushy hair as he climbed onto the stool beside her. She was ringing her hands together and kept staring over at him, opening her mouth as if to say something, then looking away again.

She was a first year, obviously. Malkin had the start of her robes on her already, and there was a needle dancing around the bottom hem of the robe making it the right length.

He was just starting to look around at the items on display in the shop when she finally spoke.

"Your coat isn't wet," she said in a rather matter-of-fact tone.

Raising his eyebrow at the unexpected conversation starter, he replied, "No, it isn't."

"But it's raining outside. I just saw you come in."

"It's charmed fabric." He could see her reaction in the mirror on the shop wall in front of them. Her eyes went wide, and she glanced around the shop again.

"Charmed? As in an enchantment?" she said very quietly, as if she wasn't asking him.

"You're a muggleborn," he said bluntly, deciding to ignore the whispered question as Madam Malkin came hurrying back with the base for his robes.

"Now, dear. I mean, Master Fitzroy," she stuttered slightly as she cast a worried glance over at the girl, having heard where the conversation had been going, "if you'll just raise your arms, we can start measuring you up."

The girl was looking at him more curiously now as Madam Malkin put the robes down next to him and tapped the measuring tape to start the process. Malkin hesitated before saying she'd be right back and scurrying off to retrieve something else leaving them alone again.

"I'm Hermione Granger by the way. Who are you?"

"Sebastian Fitzroy. Pleasure." Though he didn't suppose he looked like it was a pleasure. He was still standing straight backed and facing forward, but before she could ask about why Madam Malkin had called him Master Fitzroy, he went on. "If you're a muggleborn getting school supplies, where are your parents?"

Normally you could tell the muggleborn first years apart from the others by how close their parents were huddled to them. Not that most parents weren't like that when sending their kids to Hogwarts for the first time. He remembered that even Mother had taken to the habit of holding onto Astoria before she left for her first year, but there was something about the way the muggles stood that gave them away.

"They're off buying the last of my school books." She sighed, sounding rather put out about it. "The lady said I'd be here a while, so they took the chance to buy some of my school stuff for me."

That made sense, he thought, with how busy Diagon Alley got especially if they had left it to the last minute.

Malkin returned and started working on his robes. After a while, Hermione spoke up again.

"Why aren't your parents here?"

Cursing himself for not seeing where asking that question would have lead, he responded more bluntly than he had meant to.

"Dead." He flinched as Malkin accidentally stuck him in the arm with a pin. "Ow," he said slowly, glaring at her.

"S-sorry." Her eyes kept glancing between the two of them.

Hermione went to say something else which might have been condolences but Malkin's assistant chose that moment to appear, carrying in a black cloak.

"Ah. Finally," Madam Malkin whispered before instructing the witch to put the cloak on the counter and work on the girl's robes. She glanced up at Hermione as she put the finishing touches to the robe Sebastian had on. "I'm sorry for the wait, dear."

Now fully occupied with getting her robes seen to, Hermione stood in silence as Sebastian stepped down, pulling the robe over his head as he went over to the counter to pay. Reaching down into his bag, he pulled his money pouch out and placed a small pile of Galleons and a couple of silver Sickles onto the table. Instructing them to owl the purchase to him when it had been completed, he pulled his hood back up and walked out into the morning rain heading towards the apothecary.

.

.

 **Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Harry Potter**

 **AN: I'll be posting a chapter a month of this story. I have quite a lot already written so there's no worry about it being abandoned anytime soon. I want to thank my amazing beta HMWeasley. Any mistakes still in are mine.**

 **Edit: Harry Potter does not appear in the story as he died when the curse rebounded on Halloween '81, fulfilling his part of the prophesy. Harry and the Potters deaths will be mentioned but he is not in the story.**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Hogwarts Express

Sebastian wobbled a bit as his feet hit the ground, nearly tripping up on his school trunk as he got his balance back. A loud pop sounded next to him as Keaper apparated back to the safety of the manor, leaving him alone. He was standing in an old waiting room at Kings Cross that no doubt had some kind of sign outside the door warning muggles not to enter. There were worn down, broken seats piled in the back corner, and the only light was flickering slightly overhead.

His owl Ava was shuffling impatiently in her cage as he went over to one of the luggage trolleys that had been placed near the door. Getting his heavy school trunk on it was a bit difficult, but he just about managed it.

Picking Ava's cage off the ground and putting it on top of his trunk, he steeled himself to walk out.

Head high, he told himself, repeating what Astoria had told him when she had woken him early that morning. "You don't care what they think. Remember?" She had hugged him tightly before doing a great impression of looking down her nose at him, then stalked out of his room to go to work. Laughing, he had turned over to get some more sleep, but now it didn't seem quite so funny.

He sighed. He was running it pretty fine as it was. The train would be leaving in about ten minutes. So, he squared his thin shoulders and started pushing his trolley out onto the platforms.

...

He didn't think he was wearing anything too peculiar that would attract any attention from the muggles. The shirt he was wearing might be a bit at odds with current muggle fashion, and the long waistcoat might be seen as a bit strange, but he wasn't wearing flowing, full-length robes or anything.

He had rolled the sleeves of his white shirt up to his elbows again and was wearing his black boots with his trousers tucked in as always.

Noticing a few stares he guessed were for the owl, he carried on towards the archway. As he got closer, he slowed down, not wanting to crash into a family of redheads who were approaching the barrier.

Sebastian was just coming up behind them as two boys, who must have been identical twins, sprinted off through the barrier.

Seizing his chance as the mother turned towards the small girl beside their last trolley, Sebastian made his way forward.

"Please, can't I go, Mum?"

"I told you, you're not old enough, Ginny. Now be quiet." The mother was a plump woman also with shocking red hair, and as Sebastian pulled his trolley up beside them, their eyes met.

He saw the shock register in the woman's eyes as she suddenly straightened up, instinctively pulling the young girl protectively towards her and reaching her other hand out to grip the boy at her side.

He pushed his trolley through the barrier as he heard the boy ask his mother what was wrong.

...

The Hogwarts Express was sitting elegantly, waiting as he materialised on Platform 9 3/4. Steam was rolling over the heads of the crowds of families as children of all ages ran around attempting to find friends. Lost cats of all colours were roaming between feet, and disgruntled owls were hooting as they were being shoved around. He pushed his trolley down the platform. Children were hanging out of the doors and windows of the first few train carriages attempting to wave to family they were leaving behind. Most were too busy to notice him pushing through the crowds, and he himself was getting lost in the excitement of it all. He'd been here many times before when he was much younger and Astoria was attending Hogwarts, but knowing he was finally going to be getting on the train was a great feeling.

He only had a couple of incidents on his way towards the back of the train. Most were just people watching him a bit too intently, though one particular old lady had looked as if she had seen a ghost as she pulled her round-faced grandson towards her as he complained that he had lost his toad.

The further he went, the thinner the crowds were getting, and soon he was able to move his trolley freely towards one of the train doors in the last section where he had organised to meet his friends.

As Sebastian stopped at the edge of the platform, it became apparent that he had a problem. He was never going to be able to get his owl and his trunk onto the train by himself. He looked around, hoping to spot someone he knew but found no one he recognised.

"Want a hand?" One of the red-headed twins he saw go through the barrier had suddenly appeared beside him.

"Yes, thanks."

"Oi, Fred. C'mere and help!" The other twin he had seen earlier sauntered over.

"Alright?" he asked as he went to help his brother pick up the trunk. Sebastian quickly picked up Ava's cage as the twins lifted the trunk up.

"You alone then? Where's your parents?" the first twin asked.

"Yeah, haven't left you to do all the heavy lifting, have they?"

"Obviously not, seeing as we're the ones doing it."

He laughed at their easy conversation as they followed him onto the train. There was something very likeable about them. Other than the fact they were carrying his trunk for him.

Sebastian went ahead, quickly checking the compartments for his friends as they passed.

"You looking for someone specific or what?" Fred asked after a while.

"Not at all," Sebastian replied sarcastically as he stuck his head into another compartment. "Just thought I'd make you carry the trunk for a bit longer."

The twins looked at each other for a moment before laughing.

"'ere. What's your name?" the twin that wasn't Fred said just as Sebastian spotted Matt's owl sitting in an empty compartment.

"This one will do." Sebastian said, indicating the compartment he'd just opened.

"Alright, 'this one will do.' That's an odd name by the way."

"Yeah, I mean, what were your parents thinking giving you a name like that?"

Leaning against the side of the compartment as the twins hoisted his trunk into the luggage rack opposite two other trunks, Sebastian put Ava down next to the other owl.

"Name's Sebastian," he said as they returned to the ground. "And, thanks for the help."

"I'm George Weasley, this is Fred."

"Couldn't just leave an ickle firstie struggling now, could we?"

"Yeah, who do you think we are?" George added.

"I'll have you know we're perfectly well behaved and helpful students."

"Fine young men..."

"...incorruptible..."

"... A compliment to our house."

"And why do I not believe that?" Sebastian asked, smiling when they had finished.

George shrugged as they all walked back out into the corridor.

"So, where are your parents?" Fred asked after a moment. George gave him a subtle nudge and a quick shake of the head.

"What?" Fred said as he leant against the side by the open door.

"He thinks my parents are dead."

"Well," he felt George glance over at him as Fred asked, "are they?"

"Yeah, good guess."

A voice came floating in through the open windows, saving them from an awkward silence.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, Mum," they chorused.

With a last look over at him, they left, hoping out the door of the train and onto the platform.

Closing the door, Sebastian looked around the compartment. He could tell Matt had been here because his owl was sitting on the seat by the door, and Archie's presence was obvious by the messily discarded cloak and bag that had been thrown against the window seat on the other side. But they'd both cleared out. Probably back on the platform saying goodbye to Matt's aunt and uncle. And Edgar didn't look like he had been by yet either as there were only two other trunks in the luggage rack.

Sebastian sat down by the window and leant back to wait. From where he was he could see the redheaded family and overhear what they were saying.

"Ron, you've got something on your nose." The mother had gotten out a handkerchief and was trying to rub the youngest boy's nose as he squirmed.

"Mum... Geroff," he said, finally wriggling free.

"Ahh. Has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" one of the twins said as they rejoined the small group.

"Shut up," said Ron.

"Where's Percy?" the mother asked, looking around.

"He's coming now." The little girl pointed off down the platform.

The oldest boy came striding into Sebastian's sight. He was wearing his black Hogwarts robes already and had a shiny prefect's badge on his chest like Astoria use to have, only his was a capital 'P' on a red background instead of the green background that his sister had.

"Can't stay long, Mother," he said, puffing his chest out slightly. "I'm up front, the prefects have got the front compartment to themselves-"

"Oh. Are you a prefect, Percy? You should have said something," one of the twins said. "We had no idea."

"Hang on. I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once..."

"...or twice"

"A minute..."

"...all summer!"

"Oh. Shut up," said Percy.

"How comes Percy gets new robes, anyway?" one of the twins asked,turning back to their mother.

"Because he's a prefect," she said as she turned to Percy and kissed him goodbye.

Sebastian saw Percy striding off, his black robes billowing behind him as he walked out of view.

"Now you two - this year, you behave yourselves." The mother was looking at the twins. "If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or something..."

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet!"

"Great idea though. Thanks, Mum." The twins were grinning massively.

"It's not funny. And look after Ron."

Sebastian tuned out the rest of the conversation as he had just spotted Matt and Archie coming into view through the crowd. Mr. and Mrs. Rosier were ushering them both towards the train.

Matt had the same light blonde hair as his aunt and uncle, but the round face and soft brown eyes were his mother's. He had a grass green pullover robe that went down to his knees on and was talking excitedly to the boy next to him.

Archie was over an inch taller than Matt, and with dark brown hair, sharp features and broader shoulders, they looked nothing alike. Nor did he look anything like Matt's aunt or uncle, who had adopted them both when they were still babies. Archie was wearing a black robe that could be tied at his side, but it was hanging open, the longer edge dangling down nearly to his ankle with a plain white t-shirt underneath.

Sebastian saw Mrs. Rosier pull them both in for a quick hug before they disappeared from his sight to board the train.

A whistle sounded on the platform, and Sebastian watched as the Weasley brothers made a dash for the train, leaving their sister, who had started crying, behind. But he was distracted as his friends opened the compartment door.

Archie was the first through the door, still talking over his shoulder. It took a moment for him to register someone else was in the compartment.

"Oh, finally. Look who decided to show up!" Archie laughed, grabbing his arm and pulling him into a hug before throwing himself down onto the seat next to him.

Matt made his greetings too as he closed the door behind him. Moving the owl's cages onto the luggage rack above them, he sat in the seat opposite Sebastian by the window.

"Either of you see Edgar on the platform?" Sebastian asked, seeing them both shake their heads.

"You don't think he's missed the train do you?" Matt worried. "I mean his parents are pretty busy at work."

"Not a chance, mate. His dad maybe, but his mum would have gotten the day off. You know what she's like, always fussing," Archie said.

"Yeah, Archie's right," Sebastian added as Matt still looked worried. "He's probably just making friends with the whole train first."

The compartment door slid open, and the youngest redheaded boy was standing there.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, indicating one of the empty seats.

"Yes," Archie said bluntly.

"Sorry. We're waiting for someone," Matt added, shooting a glare at Archies rudeness.

The boy nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

The three of them went back to talking as the train sped out of London and into the countryside until about half an hour later when there was a clatter outside their compartment and the door slid open.

"Ah, found you." Edgar was smiling as usual.

"Took you long enough," Archie said as he got up to help him carry his trunk in, but he stopped halfway to the door.

There was another boy standing behind Edgar. "Help you with something?"

"Archie, be nice," Edgar warned as he moved to the side. There was a tall, skinny boy with light brown skin and short, frizzy brown hair standing behind him wearing a light blue t-shirt and dark jeans.

"Edgar said you had room for one more?" the boy asked.

Archie opened his mouth to say something, but before he could say it, Sebastian got up.

"Seb?" Edgar asked hopefully.

For a moment everyone waited as Sebastian looked at Edgar.

"Come on then." Sebastian said as he went to grab Edgar's trunk. "Don't stand blocking the door."

Edgar threw a rather relieved look back at the boy and went to help him move his trunk. Once all the trunks were stowed and Matt had closed the door, the introductions started.

"I'm Danny Coote by the way," the new boy said as Edgar grabbed his arm to pull him into the seat next to him by the door.

"Sebastian Fitzroy. Pleasure," Sebastian started. "This is Arcturus Lestrange and Mattius Rosier. You've obviously already met Edgar."

"Yes. Thankfully. I was a little lost on the platform. It's nice to meet you all." He smiled around at them.

"You all know each other then?"

Archie snorted. "Obviously."

"Excuse my brother. He's normally this rude," Matt said, earning a laugh off of everyone.

"Brother?" Danny asked. "I thought... I mean, you have different surnames."

"Don't bother," Edgar said, interrupting another snarky remark from Archie. "They were adopted."

"Oh. Right."

"Rosier was starting to think your parents had forgotten to bring you, Edgar," Sebastian said. He was now leaning backwards against the window, one leg resting on the seat and having more room to share between him and Archie than the three of them had on the other side.

"Not quite." Edgar laughed. "Though, Dad was nearly late."

Edgar went into a story about a patient his dad was seeing at St Mungo's, Matt chiming in explaining things along the way to Danny, as the countryside flashed by outside the window.

After a while, conversation had died down a bit, and Edgar suggested a game of exploding snap. As he rummaged through his bag, Sebastian took the opportunity to get up.

"I'm going for a wander." He threw the messenger bag he had brought with him at Archie. "Look after that, would you?" And before he could wait for him to argue, he had opened the compartment door and walked out.

The corridor at this end of the train was mostly empty, though he could see people hanging around further down the cab. Swaying slightly as the train juddered over the tracks, he started walking towards the front, keeping an eye out for people he knew as he walked past compartments.

As he moved into the second cab, he saw Fred and George whispering to someone. They were standing in a compartment doorway and kept glancing up the train.

One of the twins nodded, then moved off, closing the compartment door behind them.

It wasn't long before one of them spotted him over their shoulders.

"Alright, Sebastian?"

"What are we doing halfway up the train, then?" the other twin said.

"Just looking. What are you two doing?" he asked, motioning back to the compartment they had come out of.

"Just something fun, aren't we George?" one of them said rather mischievously.

"Care to join in?" George added.

"I'd rather not get detention before I get to school, but thanks for the invite."

Just as Fred was about to say something, the sound of raised voices coming from a few compartments along reached them.

"Someone else disagrees with me, it seems," Sebastian added.

"Hey, does that sound like..."

"I think it does, Fred."

"Sound like what?" Sebastian asked as the twins set off towards the commotion.

A few people stuck their heads out of nearby compartments as they walked by but, not seeing anything, closed the doors again.

Sebastian was still a few paces behind as the twins yanked open the compartment door and so couldn't see what was happening past them.

"What's going on, Ron?" George asked.

Sebastian heard another voice speak up first.

"More Weasleys! My father always did say there were more of you than you could afford."

There was a sound of a small scuffle, and Sebastian saw the twins pull someone back towards them.

"Do you know something, Fred? I don't like his tone of voice."

"Nor do I."

"Stop it!" He recognised that voice too but couldn't place who it was. "You shouldn't fight."

Sebastian, fed up with not knowing what was going on from the hallway, moved forward to stand between the shoulders of the twins.

"You seem to have an infestation of Weasleys in your compartment, Malfoy."

The twins turned around in front of him, leaving Sebastian with a clear view into the compartment.

That bushy haired girl that he had met at Madam Malkin's was tugging at the robes of a chubby, round faced boy who was cowering on the floor of the compartment, trying to make him get up. Ron was standing bedside George, who still had him by the arm, glaring daggers at him.

On the other side of the compartment were two large, heavyset boys looking menacing and standing around the poor boy on the ground.

Lastly, standing in the middle of it all, was a thin, blond haired boy with a mean expression on his angular face. It was this one who spoke.

"Sebastian," he said in greeting, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Not good enough to go to Durmstrang, I see?" he said spitefully.

"Not at all. Quite the opposite actually," Sebastian said as he moved into the compartment and took a seat.

"Why would I want to go there when I could go to Hogwarts with you?" He smiled.

Everyone was still staring at him. He saw the twins glance at each other, but still, no one moved.

"I have to say though, you're keeping markedly..." he paused, looking around at them all, "...different company than last time I saw you."

He saw Malfoy look around quickly before shrugging and sitting down opposite him, trying to look as nonchalant as he could.

"I was just teaching this one a lesson." He kicked out at the boy on the ground and smirked at the resulting whimper it drew.

"How about we leave the lessons 'til we get to school?" he asked. "Merlin knows we'll bore of them quick enough."

Sebastian looked over at Hermione as Malfoy laughed, trying to subtlety gesture for her to get the boy up and leave.

"Right then. I guess we should be going, don't you think, Fred?" George announced as he dragged Ron out beside him.

"Quite right, George," Fred replied throwing Sebastian one last questioning look as he ushered Hermione and the whimpering boy out.

The door closed behind them, and silence returned to the compartment. He could feel Malfoy was watching him, but he focused on the two larger boys who were still standing first.

"Crabbe and Goyle, is it? Or is that Goyle and Crabbe?"

They both turned their heads at once to Draco, who was sitting down opposite Sebastian, as if waiting for confirmation to speak.

Draco, sighing, gestured for them to take seats. Sebastian had to hold back a laugh as they both chose to sit on either side of Draco, leaving him with his seat all to himself.

"I'm Crabbe," the fatter of the two said after sitting down.

"I'm Goyle."

"Don't you think he figured that out?" Draco spat, shaking his head.

"Right. Anyway, I hear you went to the Quidditch World Cup, Draco?" Sebastian said.

"Yes. Father took me. Did you not?" Sebastian could hear a hint of superiority creep back into Draco's voice but decided to ignore it.

"No. My cousins went though. They told me it was the longest game in world cup history?"

Sebastian settled back a bit more comfortably as he listened to Draco tell him about the match and asked questions along the way.

A while later, Draco was coming to the end of his tale, and Crabbe and Goyle, who had been pretty much silent the whole time, perked up as they could hear the lunch trolley clattering closer in the corridor outside.

"Right. I should probably head back to my compartment then."

Sebastian saw a glimmer of a pleading look cross Draco's face, but it was gone again just as quickly.

"I'll see you at the feast, Draco," Sebastian said as he got up, feeling a bit bad about leaving Draco with that company for the rest of the journey.

"Of course."

The compartment door slid open just as he reached it. Smiling politely at the lady pushing the trolley, he edged behind her into the corridor and headed off back down the train the way she had come.

Edgar, Matt, and Danny were playing exploding snap on the small table by the window as Sebastian opened the compartment door. Archie, who was leaning up against the side by the door with his legs stretched out on the seat in front of him, looked up at him and opened his mouth to start saying something when there was a loud bang as the pack of exploding snap cards went off. Archie glared over at the noise the others were making, shaking his head.

"Welcome back." Edgar waved as he dove down to pick up some stray cards.

"You've been gone a long time. You missed the trolley." Archie waved a hand at the piles of empty wrappers littered around the seats. "Among other things," he said still glaring.

"Like, him being a grumpy sod, for example," Edgar chimed in again as he sat back on his seat, grinning next to Danny.

"I guess that means you ate all the sweets then?"

"You don't even like sweets," Archie said grumpily.

"He saved you all the chocolate," Matt said, indicating Sebastian's bag which was between Archie and Matt, who was now sitting in Sebastian's old seat by the window.

"Where've you been?" Matt asked as Sebastian sat down between the two of them, picking up his bag.

He explained about talking to Draco about the world cup, which got the others into a long explanation about what Quidditch was and the rules of the game to Danny.

Sebastian was just sharing the last of the chocolate with Archie a couple of hours later when the door opened up again.

"You haven't seen the toad yet, have you?" Hermione sighed as she stepped into the compartment.

Sebastian shot a questioning look towards Archie as the others shook their heads.

"Afraid not. I'm sure it'll turn up," Edgar said.

"Right." Hermione nodded. "Well, you should all get your robes on. I've just been up front to ask the driver, and he said we'll be arriving soon." She recognised Sebastian just as she was turning to leave and stopped. "Thanks, by the way. That boy was being rotten to Neville. You aren't friends with him, are you?"

"Friends with who?" Matt interrupted.

"Malfoy," Sebastian said before turning back to Hermione. "And I was just preventing a fight. Could you leave, so we can get changed, please?"

"Right." Hermione blushed as she turned to leave, closing the door after her.

The sky was starting to get darker outside the train windows. The sun was setting, and the sky was slowly turning from pinks and blues to a darker purple.

A loud, clear voice echoed down the train. "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."

The compartment went into chaos as five boys all tried to get their school robes out of their trunks and bags and get changed in the small space. Their old robes and jumpers were discarded on the floor and on the seats, and the new long black Hogwarts robes were pulled on over heads.

Sebastian stuffed his old robes into his bag and threw the bag onto the luggage rack with his trunk before sitting back down and watching out the window as the train pulled into Hogsmeade station. He looked around at the others, unable to stop the smile from showing on his face. He saw a mix of excitement and nerves reflected back from the others as the train stopped, and they all got up to join the other students, all now wearing their long, black uniforms, in the corridor, streaming out onto the platform like a black wave.

* * *

 **AN: I don't own magic or hogwarts. I'm still upset about it. Reviews might make me happier though.**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Sorting

Sebastian saw Matt shiver as he stepped down onto the dark platform in front of him. Though, whether it was from anticipation or the cold night air he wasn't sure.

By the time Sebastian had stepped down onto the platform with Edgar beside him, he had lost track of the others as they merged into the mass of bodies. Taller students in black robes surrounded them as they were swept along into their midst.

A lamp came bobbing high over the heads of the students at the front of the crowd, accompanied by a voice shouting, "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

Edgar beamed over at Sebastian as, together, they jostled their way through the throng of students towards the sound. As they approached the knot of first years, they saw the man who had called out and was holding the lamp. He was a giant of a man, double the height of any of the first years standing around him. His eyes were like black beetles standing out on his face amongst long, shaggy black hair and a mane of the same stuff hung down from his large face. Though, through all of the hair, you could still make out the wide smile he wore as he looked out at the students.

"C'mon, follow me. Any more firs'-years? Mind your step now. Firs'-years, follow me."

He guided them to a narrow path that went through a dense thicket of trees, blocking out most of the late evening light. The path sloped steeply downwards, and Sebastian had to make a quick grab for Edgar's arm to keep himself upright as he slipped. He wasn't the only one of the first years having trouble on the dark path. Students were slipping and sliding all around him, and he could hear someone sniveling closer to the front.

They continued on through the darkness in silence until the giant of a man at the front spoke again.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," he called loudly over his shoulder so that it reached all of them. "Jus' round this bend here."

This was shortly followed by a wave of excited noise, starting from the students at the front as they got their first look at the castle.

Sebastian rounded the last bend and looked up in awe as the narrow path opened up onto the edge of a large lake. The castle was sitting high atop a tall cliff on the other side of the water, the lights from a hundred windows illuminating its many turrets and towers against the starry night sky.

"No more'n four to a boat!"

The loud voice shook Sebastian from his thoughts, and he looked down to where the man had been pointing. A small fleet of little row boats without oars were already slowly filling up as students climbed in.

He followed Edgar into a half-full boat nearby as the large man, who had a boat to himself, asked if everyone was ready.

"FORWARD!" he called as soon as everyone was comfortably sitting down.

The fleet of boats moved off as one, gliding forward over the calm, dark lake. Looking around, Sebastian could see Archie and Matt in a boat near the front, but his attention was soon turned to the large castle looming ever closer.

Everyone was silent as the boats got closer and closer, staring up in awe as the cliff face seemed to grow larger in front of them.

"Heads down!"

They all ducked as the boats passed through an opening in a curtain of ivy that was hanging off the cliff face, and the boats were now traveling down a low ceilinged tunnel that was taking them underneath the castle. Sebastian could see light ahead, slowly getting brighter as they came out into an underground harbour that seemed to be carved into the stone.

The boats pulled up against the edge, and they all carefully clambered out as the large man went around checking the boats.

"Oi, you there. Is this your toad?"

"Trevor!" Neville cried, coming forward and holding out his hands to take the pet toad.

"Right then. Everyone follow me." And the large man took off, heading towards a small passageway in the rock.

Filing through to the other side, they came out on a damp, grassy lawn in the shadow of the castle walls. They walked up a set of stone steps before stopping before a huge oak door.

"Everyone here?" The man asked, looking around. Nodding to himself, he turned and raised his huge arm to knock three times on the door.

The door opened straight away, revealing a very stern looking, tall, dark haired witch with gleaming, emerald green, floor length robes who had been waiting behind it.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall."

"Thank you, Hagrid, I will take them from here," she said, waiting until Hagrid passed by her and went through the doors, disappearing into the castle.

McGonagall surveyed them briefly before nodding to herself. She turned and pulled the large doors wide open. Bright light poured over the students as they got their first look at the entrance hall.

Flaming torches lined the stone walls, throwing flickering light across the massive space. A huge marble staircase was directly opposite them, going up to higher floors, and the ceiling above them was too high to make out.

Before they could see any more, McGonagall was already walking across the flagstones, and they had to hurry to keep up. Sebastian could hear the murmuring of hundreds of voices through another set of huge oak doors as they passed, following behind McGonagall, who showed them into a much smaller room off of the entrance hall.

As they crowded into the room in front of McGonagall, Sebastian grabbed Edgar by the arm and pulled him over to where he had spotted Archie and Matt. Danny was still with them. Archie smiled over at them as they arrived just as McGonagall began to speak.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. "the start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitories, and spend free time in your house common room.

The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history, and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

The sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." From Sebastian's vantage point, McGonagall seemed to be looking at a few specific students after she said this, causing some nervous fidgeting.

"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly," she said before leaving the room.

As soon as the door closed behind her, panicked muttering broke out among the first years.

"I suppose you're still not going to tell us what the sorting involves, are you?" Archie asked Sebastian.

"I told you I don't know exactly. Just that Astoria said it's not a test."

"My parents said it was nothing to worry about."

"Edgar, do your parents ever think there is something to worry about?" Matt said as they all chuckled quietly, trying to cast away the worry that was building now that the sorting was about to happen.

"They're all good houses though," Danny said as he looked around at the others. "I mean that's what the professor said. We might all end up in the same one, there's quite a few of us first years."

"We won't," Sebastian said, turning away from him to watch the door.

"Some of us might." Edgar replied, smiling quickly at Danny to try to cover the tension in Sebastian's answer. "Me and you might end up in the same house, Danny."

Archie moved closer to Sebastian and spoke in a quiet and urgent tone.

"We will be, Seb. The three of us," Archie said, gesturing to Matt, "we'll all be in Slytherin like we always said."

"Maybe." He sighed. "I'm not buying you and Edgar matching red scarfs for Christmas if we're not though."

Archie opened his mouth to say something more, but before he could, there were loud gasps and a few shocked screams.

Looking around, Sebastian saw more than a dozen ghosts gliding through the wall into the room. Slightly transparent and almost glowing white, they were arguing about something before they seemed to spot them.

"I say, what are you all doing here?" a ghost wearing a ruff around his neck and tights asked.

"New students!" another, rather fat, female ghost said, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded at her.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff. My old house, you know?"

"Move along now." McGonagall was back, her sharp voice cutting through whatever the happy ghost was about to say. "The sorting ceremony's about to start."

The ghosts floated away through the opposite wall, leaving them alone again.

"Now, form a line and follow me," Professor McGonagall told them before leading them back out the door they had come through.

Sebastian stepped into line behind Edgar. He could feel Archie following right behind him as they walked across the entrance hall and through a pair of wide open double doors into the Great Hall.

The first thing Sebastian saw when he walked through the double doors was thousands upon thousands of candles floating above their heads, lighting the room. Fireplaces were alight along the sides of the room, and the ceiling looked as if it was open to the night sky outside. There were four long wooden tables, bedecked in golden plates and goblets, going the length of the room, one for each house, starting near the doors they had entered through going to the raised dais at the other end where there was a staff table looking out at them. The older students already sitting at the tables were craning their necks to get a look at them as they walked along the centre of the room, following McGonagall towards the staff table.

They huddled up into a group as they were directed to stand at the front before the dais. McGonagall placed a wooden stool at the centre of the raised area on top of which she put a worn, old, pointy wizard's hat. It looked to Sebastian as if it had been in storage for at least a couple hundred years. It had patches all over it, the edges were all frayed and it was quite dirty.

The whole hall had gone silent as they stared at the hat. For a moment, nothing happened. Sebastian glanced over at Archie, who shrugged and they went back to watching the old hat.

Suddenly, it moved.

A fold near the brim of the hat opened as if it were a large mouth and started singing.

 _"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty_

 _But don't judge on what you see._

 _I'll eat myself if you can find_

 _A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers black,_

 _Your top hats sleek and tall._

 _For I'm the Hogwarts sorting hat_

 _And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head_

 _The sorting hat can't see._

 _So put me on and I will tell you_

 _Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong in Gryffindor_

 _Where dwell the brave at heart._

 _Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

 _Set Gryffindors apart._

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff_

 _Where they are just, and loyal._

 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,_

 _And unafraid of toil._

 _Or yet, in wise old Ravenclaw_

 _If you've a ready mind._

 _Where those of wit and learning_

 _Will always find their kind._

 _Or, perhaps, in Slytherin_

 _You'll find your real friends._

 _Those cunning folk use any means_

 _To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

 _And don't get in a flap._

 _You're in good hands (though I have none)_

 _For I'm a thinking cap!"_

The hall broke into applause, and even a few cheers went up as the hat bowed to each of the house tables then went still again.

"We just put on the hat?" Matt breathed behind him. "That's it? What if-"

But he was cut off as silence descended again. McGonagall stepped forward, now holding a roll of parchment open in her hands.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."

The first years exchanged a last few nervous glances as she cleared her throat.

"Abbott, Hannah."

A blonde girl, her hair done up in pigtails, stumbled forward out of the group. The hat fell down to her eyes when she put it on, and she sat down on the edge of the stool. There was a pause then—

"HUFFLEPUFF," the hat shouted.

The table on the far right erupted in cheers. Sebastian saw the fat, cheery ghost from earlier at the table as Hannah moved off to join them.

"Bones, Susan."

A girl that Sebastian knew skipped up to the stool. Her long, red plait spinning over her shoulder as she turned to sit.

"HUFFLEPUFF."

Again, the table cheered as she went to join them.

Terry Boot was the first to join the Ravenclaw table, quickly followed by Mandy Brocklehurst. The loudest cheer so far came from the table on the far left as Lavender Brown became the first Gryffindor. And Millicent Bulstrode became the first Slytherin.

He wished the process would hurry up. The longer he stood there, the more nervous he was getting. Breathing in deeply to calm himself down, he focused on the names.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin."

"HUFFLEPUFF."

The hat seemed to be deliberating each decision before shouting it. Sebastian noticed that sometimes it would pick a house before it had even settled into place, whereas other times it was taking a lot longer.

Finnegan, Seamus sat on the stool for a full minute before he was sorted into Gryffindor.

And then it was his turn.

"Fitzroy, Sebastian."

"See you later," Archie whispered quickly in his ear as Sebastian moved forward and onto the dais.

He sat down on the stool as the hat slipped over his eyes, blocking out his view of the rest of the school.

"Ah, a Fitzroy, I see." A quiet voice in his ear spoke. "Hmm, this is simple enough, I think. SLYTHERIN!"

The last word was shouted out for the rest of the hall to hear, and trying not to show how relieved he was, he carefully took the hat off and placed it back on the stool before turning to the Slytherin table. He was smiling as he took a seat next to Tracey Davis and was greeted by the Slytherin prefects.

He watched as Hermione Granger was sorted into Gryffindor, then Daphne Greengrass sat down in the seat next to him at the Slytherin table after she was sorted.

"Lestrange, Arcturus."

Sebastian thought that Archie looked as calm as he ever did, but he could see the tension in his eyes when Archie looked over at him before the hat went down over his head.

A moment passed. Then another before—

"SLYTHERIN."

Archie bounced up, nearly chucking the hat back on to the stool as he came over to the table.

"I told you," Archie said as he sat down opposite him.

"I never doubted it."

Sebastian could see Archie's shoulders relaxing slightly as they joked with each other.

Draco swaggered forward when his name was called, and the hat placed him straight into Slytherin.

Lily Moon went to Ravenclaw before a slew of more Slytherins were called. Theodore Nott, Rory O'Brian, and Pansy Parkinson all joined them at the table.

There were less than a dozen first years left to be sorted now.

"Rosier, Mattius."

He saw Edgar whisper something that must have been funny to Matt because he was laughing as he walked up to the hat. Sebastian saw the hat go down over Matt's head, then turned his eyes to Archie. He no longer looked relaxed. His back was arrow straight, and he was wearing a frown that deepened with every second the hat took to decide.

Just as Sebastian turned his attention back to Matt, the hat made its decision.

"RAVENCLAW."

He felt more than saw Archie suddenly swing back to face him. But he was still looking at Matt. Working hard not to let the shock show on his face, Sebastian smiled at Matt, who was looking their way, still stunned into place. He continued to clap politely with the other students as Matt got up and stumbled his way to the Ravenclaw table.

He barely heard Zacharias Smith get sorted into Hufflepuff afterward. Matt, Archie, and him had been friends since before he could remember. Different houses weren't going to change that, they'd still have some lessons together, but it was a shock. Though, he supposed, it shouldn't have been. He had known that it might happen, getting split up had been what he was worrying about before. Matt's aunt and uncle had both been in Ravenclaw, and he was definitely very similar to them.

"Summerby, Edgar."

His attention was pulled back as Edgar climbed the dais. The hat was barely placed on his curly blond hair before—

"HUFFLEPUFF."

Cheers went up from the table beside them. At least some things went as expected, Sebastian thought as Edgar went to sit at the Hufflepuff table.

The last few students were sorted, ending with Zabini, Blaise becoming a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment and took away the hat and stool.

Albus Dumbledore stood from his seat in the middle of the staff table as the noise in the hall quieted. He smiled out at the students, arms open wide in welcome, his silver hair shining nearly as brightly as the ghosts.

"Welcome!" His voice was loud and clear, carrying easily to the back of the hall. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

The students in the Great Hall broke out in cheers and applause as Dumbledore sat back down in his golden chair.

Sebastian shared a bemused look with Archie, remembering what his sister had said about the headmaster being peculiar.

But all thought of Dumbledore was quickly forgotten as the plates on the tables were suddenly filled with food.

Sebastian's stomach rumbled in hunger as he took in what was in front of them. Roast meats, sausages, pork chops, lamb chops, potatoes of every kind, rice, pasta, massive dishes of vegetables, gravy, bread sauce, ketchup. Anything you could want was somewhere on the table. The snacks they had on the train felt like an awfully long time ago.

Plates of food were being passed around, and Sebastian took a small amount of everything. Not wanting to miss out. He could see the others around him doing the same, although Crabbe and Goyle were taking a bit more of everything than most.

A rather menacing looking ghost with a gaunt face and what looked like blood covering his robes was sitting between Draco and a boy with dark hair who Sebastian remembered McGonagall saying was called Theodore Nott. Neither boy looked too pleased about this.

"Sit up straight, boy!" the ghost said to Nott in a harsh tone. Nott dropped his fork. It made a loud, clattering noise as it bounced across his plate, but he managed to grab it before it dropped on the floor.

The ghost shook his head, and Sebastian was sure it would have sighed if it had still been breathing.

"I am the Bloody Baron, the ghost of this great house," he said, looking around at all the newly sorted students. "And I expect you young snakes to do Slytherin proud. We have won the house championship for the last six years running. It would be a poor showing should any of you do anything to change that."

With one last piercing glance at each of them, looking a moment longer at Nott than the rest of them, it left. Floating up the table to speak to some of the older students. Sebastian could see quite a few of the students relax as he left.

"Not too friendly, is he?" Daphne whispered.

There wasn't much more talk until everyone had eaten their fill. But as the plates cleared, conversations sprung up, interrupted only briefly by the appearance of dessert.

Across the table from him, Draco had started to talk to Archie about Quidditch at Hogwarts.

"It's a stupid rule," he was saying. "Just because some people have never been introduced to what a broomstick is doesn't mean all of us should be punished."

"It's not like we'd make the team in our first year, Draco," Archie said.

"Speak for yourself. If we could actually bring our broomsticks, maybe we would."

Sebastian decided to listen in to what a Slytherin prefect, who had introduced herself as Gemma Farley, was saying to Tracey beside him.

"Lessons will start on Monday. So you'll have a day to get settled. For my first year, September the first was a Sunday, so we went straight into lessons the next day."

"When will we get our lesson timetables?"

"Tomorrow. Professor Snape," she said pointing to where an imposing man in dark robes with long, greasy black hair and a hooked nose was sitting at the staff table, "he's our head of house, will be handing them out tomorrow with help from some of the senior prefects."

After a while longer, the desserts too vanished, and the hall once more descended into silence as professor Dumbledore stood and cleared his throat.

"Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered," he said. "I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First-years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Even from Sebastian's distance from the Gryffindor table, he could tell that Dumbledore's eyes were on the Weasley twins as he said that last part.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridor."

Sebastian smiled as he heard Archie snort at that quietly.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should speak to their house's Quidditch captain or their heads of house.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out-of-bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."

A few laughs went up around the hall, but they were cut off quickly as everyone realised he wasn't joking.

"And now," Dumbledore raised his voice to cut through the muttering that had sprung up, "before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!"

Sebastian noticed the smiles on some of the professors were now rather fixed. Professor Snape, however, was openly scowling at the headmaster.

A golden ribbon was now shooting out of Dumbledore's wand and flitting into words high in the air in front of him.

"Everyone pick their favourite tune and off we go!"

The school all started singing:

 _"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts_

 _Teach us something please,_

 _Whether we be old and bald_

 _Or young with scabby knees,_

 _Our heads could do with filling_

 _With some interesting stuff,_

 _For now they're bare and full of air,_

 _Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

 _So teach us things worth knowing,_

 _Bring back what we've forgot,_

 _Just do your best,_

 _We'll do the rest,_

 _And learn until our brains all rot."_

Sebastian finished with the Slytherin students around him, but lots of others were still going until, at last, only the Weasley twins were still singing in a slow funeral march. Sebastian and some of the other first-year Slytherins joined in with the clapping as the twins finished but quickly stopped as the older Slytherins looked disapprovingly at them.

"Ah, music," Dumbledore said, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The Great Hall broke up into a hundred conversations as old friends found each other in the mass of students. The Slytherin first-years followed Gemma through the crush and out of the hall.


	4. Chapter 4 - Lessons

Sebastian had to push his way through some of the older students to follow Gemma out of the Great Hall. There was a small crush as they reached the door at the same time as the Ravenclaw first years who were being led out by one of their prefects.

He tried to see where Matt was, but the two houses were led off in different directions before he could find him. As the Ravenclaws were led up the marble stairs away from them, he found himself hoping that Matt wasn't too upset at them being split up. He shook that thought from his head and looked around at where they were.

Gemma had brought them to the side of the entrance hall, between the grand staircase and the doors to the Great Hall. Here they were out of the way of the other first years coming out of the hall as they waited for the rest of them to join up.

He saw Archie push past a couple of older students standing near the door as he came over to stand with them. After another minute of waiting as the last couple of stranglers got out of the Great Hall, Gemma clapped her hands.

"Right, that's all of you. Follow me and we'll go down to the common room."

She turned and headed towards the back wall in the shadow of the grand staircase where there was a dark archway. They followed her down a broad, short flight of steps into a long stone corridor lit by torches along the walls. Passing a few closed doors of what Sebastian assumed were classrooms before they turned off the main corridor and went down a much longer flight of winding stairs.

It was notably colder and darker down here. Though there were torches flickering in alcoves spaced out along the walls, the light didn't seem to reach very far, leaving large patches of the corridor in darkness.

They turned a few corners before Gemma came to a stop at what looked like a dead end.

"This is the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room," she said. "Try to remember where it is. You'll need a password to get in. It gets changed every two weeks, so remember to check the notice board or you'll be stuck waiting out here."

She turned to the flat stone wall.

"Python Regius"

There was a small grinding noise. Then, all at once, the stone slabs in front of them folded out of the way revealing wide steps leading down to the floor of a huge cavern like room. You could still tell they were underground, but rather than the cold, low ceilinged passages they had come through, the stone ceiling hung in arches, and this room was at least double height. The warmth from the blazing fireplaces carried through the whole space.

It must go straight up to the floor of the entrance hall, Sebastian thought as they were shepherded through the room between mahogany desks and dark, comfy looking armchairs till they were standing in the middle of the common room.

"Boys dormitories are to the left through that door there," Gemma said, indicating a door up a few steps at the side of the room, then motioning to the same sight on the other side. "Girls to the right. I'm sure you're all tired, so we'll do this quickly."

"You four boys," she said, pointing to where he and Archie were standing at the side of the small crowd of first years, "can take the room at the end of the corridor." She paused.

"Well, off you go! Your trunks should be delivered soon."

Sebastian moved off with Archie beside him as he heard a few of the girls giggling behind him.

Once they were up the steps and through the wooden door, they were in another long corridor. This one was just as dark as the previous ones, lit only scarcely by torches along one wall. Along the other were dark wooden doors.

At the end of the corridor, Archie pushed the door to their room open and walked in, leaving it open behind them for the others.

The room had four four-poster beds hung with deep green hangings spread out along one wall with four dark wood wardrobes in between. Against the other wall were large deep recessed windows that looked out under what must be the lake they had come over earlier with a door at the opposite side of the room that must lead off to the bathroom.

Archie flopped across the second bed, letting out a loud sigh as Sebastian sat on the one next to it, closest to the door.

Theodore Nott, who had followed them into the room, took the third.

"When do you think our stuff will get here?" he asked.

Archie shrugged. "She said soon. Probably just waiting for the rooms to be sorted."

"Who's the fourth?" Sebastian asked Nott. "I didn't check before we left."

"Draco. But he was asking the prefect to change the rooms when I followed you both."

Archie snorted. "Something wrong with us?"

At that moment four trunks appeared at the end of each bed, interrupting their conversation.

"Check whose trunk that is, would you Nott?" Archie asked, pointing to the trunk by the fourth bed as he went to his own.

Before Nott could get up, a sharp voice from the doorway cut in.

"It's mine. So don't touch it."

Malfoy walked into the room, ignoring the three of them as he went straight past them to his trunk by the last bed.

Archie shot a grimace at Sebastian, who only just managed to stop a laugh from breaking the silence.

Draco seemed to be happy ignoring them as he got ready for bed, and there wasn't much more talking as they all followed suit.

Sebastian extinguished the light by his bed as he climbed under the covers. The room was mostly dark by now, lit only by an eerie glow from the water outside the windows, and only Archie was still sitting up.

"Do you think he's okay?" Archie asked in a whisper, trying to make sure his voice didn't carry to the others.

"Matt?" Sebastian asked. "I'm sure he's fine."

"Right. Only he looked pretty upset when he was sorted."

"He was just a bit shocked. He'll be fine. We'll still have loads of classes with him."

Archie was still sitting on the edge of his bed looking worried, so Sebastian sighed and sat up.

"He'll make more friends if he isn't stuck with us all the time anyway. It'll be better for him. You'll see." He shot a smile at Archie before turning to lie down again. "We'll see him tomorrow, and you can ask him yourself, alright? I'm going to sleep."

,,,

* * *

...

The next day passed in a blur of excitement.

The students all got their lesson timetables at breakfast. It turned out that Professor Snape handing them out with the help of the senior prefects was just him handing them to the senior prefects. Sebastian and Archie had made their way up to the Great Hall with the other Slytherin first years, and were just finishing off their food at their house table when a seventh year prefect gave them their timetables.

After breakfast, he and Archie had met up with Matt in the entrance hall. Luckily, getting from the Slytherin Common Room to the Great Hall had been easy enough for them, but Matt told them he and some of the other Ravenclaw first-years had gotten lost twice just coming down for breakfast. They all decided after this that it would be a good idea to try to find some of the classes for the next day and spent the next few hours wandering around and getting lost trying to figure out where everything was.

The castle was a maze of moving staircases, secret passages, and trick doors spread out over seven floors in multiple towers plus the dungeons and the basement (which happened to be two separate areas that were not linked at all). A lot of the figures in the portraits were very little help whenever they got lost as they kept moving from painting to painting to chat to their friends, and by lunch time, they were all sure that some of the statutes and suits of armour could move too.

But, by the time they had to part with Matt for lunch, they were reasonably certain they could find the classrooms they needed for tomorrow morning's lessons and so spent the rest of the day outside on the grassy lawns in the sunshine. They weren't the only ones who had thought to do this, and by mid afternoon, what looked like most of the school were outside somewhere on the grounds.

The next day, they got up early for breakfast, leaving plenty of time to spare to get to their first lesson. Nott, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle all joined them as they slowly made their way all the way up to the sixth floor for transfiguration with the stern looking witch who had read their names out on the first night.

As Sebastian entered the classroom, he saw they weren't the first there. In fact, half the seats were already taken. Matt, who was already sitting with a few of the other Ravenclaws, waved to them.

He and Archie filed into seats behind Matt at the side of the classroom just as a loud bell rang through the halls.

"Blaise and Rory aren't here," Archie said under his breath, so only Sebastian could hear him.

Sebastian glanced round to do a quick count of the Slytherins, and sure enough, they were the only ones missing.

They both turned back to the front as a tabby cat leapt onto the front desk and seemed to be looking around at them.

A moment passed in silence before it turned and leapt back off the desk, but before its paws reached the ground, it morphed into a human.

Professor McGonagall was now standing at the front of the room, her stern face finding each of theirs in turn until she was sure she had their undivided attention.

Just as she opened her mouth, there was a loud bang as the classroom door crashed open, and Rory rushed in with Blaise following much more quietly behind.

"Gentlemen?"

"Sorry, professor. We got lost."

"Perhaps you should have left breakfast earlier with the rest of your classmates?" She paused as if waiting for an answer, but neither boy said anything. "I expect it to never happen again. Take a seat."

They both slipped into two empty seats in the back row. Blaise looking much more calm and collected about their late entrance and telling off than Rory, who was all flustered and red.

McGonagall cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention back to her.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my classroom will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She spared a glance at the two late comers before moving to stand beside her desk.

"It is also some of the most useful magic to learn."

With a flick of her wand and a muttered incantation, the very solid looking wooden desk turned into a pig.

There were a few shocked gasps from the front row, who were now sitting less than a metre away from a rather large and noisy animal.

With another flick of her wand, her desk was back and looking just as immaculately clean and solid as it had been before.

If Sebastian hadn't already read ahead, he would have been rather disappointed to learn that after that rather spectacular demonstration, all they would be doing for the next couple of weeks would be trying to change a match into a needle. Though he did hear a few grumbles from around the classroom from others who hadn't.

"What's useful about turning a desk into a pig anyway?" Archie asked under his breath as he took his textbook out of his bag.

The rest of the lesson passed slowly as they scribbled down lots of notes.

Their next class was Magic Theory with the Gryffindors where they had a very bubbly teacher who talked lots but didn't say much at all.

When they met up with Edgar and Matt briefly for break, they found out their lessons had mostly been talking and note taking too.

"I might have to do something about this soon. It's boring," Archie said.

"I'd rather not get a detention on our first day. Besides, it's all very interesting, and it is our first day. What did you expect?"

"Something less boring?"

"You and I have potions next at least," Sebastian said to Archie. "That should be interesting."

"Yeah, interesting..."

"Cheer up, Archie," Edgar said. "At least you don't have Magic Theory then History of Magic back to back like Matt does."

They all chuckled at Archie's accompanying grimace.

"We should probably get to our classrooms."

"Have fun in Potions," Edgar said over his shoulder as he and Matt left to go upstairs.

They made their way down into the dungeons, reaching the classroom in plenty of time. Unlike some of the other rooms though, its door was locked, and they had to wait outside.

"Hey, Rory," Archie said as they moved over to wait with a group of Slytherins. "You got any detentions for barging into classrooms yet?"

They all laughed as he said, "Not yet."

"You should be more careful," Draco said as he joined them. Crabbe and Goyle looming over his shoulders like twin boulders. "You wouldn't want to be mistaken for a stupid Gryffindor."

He made sure to make his voice carry across the corridor to the Gryffindors now waiting by the classroom door. Ron looked like he was about to say something before Danny tugged urgently on his arm, looking behind them.

Silence descended on the corridor as they all turned to see Professor Snape standing near by.

All in black, his arms crossed across his chest, he looked like he had walked out of the shadows. He glared at them before whipping his wand out.

There was a crack that echoed loudly in the stone corridor, causing a few of them to flinch as the door to the classroom unlocked itself and swung slowly open.

"In!"

They all hurried through the door and into seats as Professor Snape strode down the centre aisle to the front.

The walls of the dark room were covered in shelves holding jars, vials, and glass bottles of all shapes and sizes. Some of the larger jars had what looked like pieces of dead animals floating inside, others held ingredients clearly labeled.

As Sebastian sat down between Archie and Rory, he realised that the two houses had split down the middle when taking their seats. Slytherins on one side of the room. Gryffindors on the other.

Professor Snape began by calling a register, pausing to sneer at a few particular names. Once he had finished, he looked up at the class. Cold black eyes fixing on each of them.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic." He began in barely more than a whisper,but his voice carried clearly to every student. It was obvious he was not a teacher to cross, even Archie managed to stifle the sigh he let out at that. "I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

A few quiet chuckles went up at that, but they were mainly from the Slytherin half of the room. Sebastian smiled, glancing over at Archie who was watching him.

"What?" he whispered.

Archie raised his eyebrow and smirked, motioning his arm to point out Sebastian was on the edge of his seat.

"Shut up," he said, though he did try to subtly lean back again.

"Longbottom!" Professor Snape said suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Sebastian looked over to Neville, who had gone white as a ghost. His eyes were wide, and he was slowly shaking his head. Hermione, who was in the row behind Neville, had her hand in the air and was practically bouncing on her seat to answer the question. But Professor Snape was still looking at Neville.

"Well?"

Another moment passed.

"I.. I don't k-know, sir."

"Obviously," the professor said with a sneer. "Well, let's try again. Where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?"

Neville, still under Professor Snape's glare, was staring down at the desk in front of him, trying to make himself look small.

Sebastian smiled. He felt sorry for the boy, but this was just what Snape was like. Astoria had told him that Professor Snape always favoured his own house. Taking every opportunity to embarrass Gryffindor students.

The Slytherins around him were gleeful at Neville's embarrassment. He could see Draco in the seats in front of him shaking with silent laughter.

"Still don't know?" Snape asked. "Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Longbottom? What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Hermione was now standing up with her arm raised in her desperation to answer a question, but Professor Snape still hadn't even glanced at her.

"I don't know, sir," Neville replied quietly.

He could see the boy next to Neville was about to say something, but Ron grabbed his arm and shook his head.

"Fitzroy!"

Sebastian's attention was wrenched back to Professor Snape, who was now looking expectantly at him.

"Yes, sir?"

"The answers."

Sebastian could feel Archie next to him, sinking back into his seat trying to stay unseen. Draco's smirk had been wiped off his face, and none of the Slytherins, who had thought they were immune to Snape's questions a moment before, were laughing anymore.

Sebastian coughed slightly, glancing at Archie beside him, who was pointedly not looking his way.

"Monkshood and Wolfsbane are the same thing," Sebastian said.

"Otherwise known as?"

"Aconite, sir." He paused, wondering if that was the only answer Snape had wanted, but the professor only nodded and waited for him to continue.

"The ingredients you listed make a sleeping potion called the draught of living death."

Another nod.

"And, I'd expect you'd find a bezoar in your potions kit, sir."

Sebastian felt Archie let out a quick breath beside him.

Snape was watching him coolly, his eyes narrowed. There was silence for a moment as none of the Slytherins around him dared to move.

"Correct. I see your sister didn't steal all the brains."

Snape glanced around at the rest of the room.

"A bezoar is a stone found in the stomach of a goat and will save you from most poisons. And, as Mr. Fitzroy said, should be included in any potions kit. Well? Why aren't you all copying this down?"

There was a mad scramble as everyone started digging around in their bags for parchment and quills. Over the noise, Snape said, "Ten points to Slytherin. And five from Gryffindor for the arrogance of turning up to my class unprepared."

The rest of the lesson was spent copying notes from the textbook about how to properly prepare ingredients for a potion.

When Edgar slid into a seat beside them in charms, Archie was still going on about how happy he was Snape hadn't picked on him.

"I mean, I could have gotten the bezoar one," Archie was saying. "Answering it properly mind. I thought he was going to give you a detention for answering the way you did."

"Answering what what way?" Edgar asked.

"Nothing. Just Professor Snape picking on people."

A moment later Professor Flitwick arrived. He was a tiny, very excited wizard who had to climb up onto a pile of books to see over his desk when he took the register.

Flitwick spent the lesson very enthusiastically going over what they would learn that year and answering questions.

The next few days passed quickly. They managed to get lost multiple times on their way up to their astronomy class and then again on their way back down to the dungeons after their midnight lesson from the astronomy tower on Wednesday.

Herbology down in the greenhouses with Professor Sprout was a much more practical affair, which kept Archie happy. Sebastian wasn't sure if Professor Sprout was always that jolly or whether she was being extra jolly because she was head of Hufflepuff house and they shared that class with them. But either way it was an enjoyable class, and she was a very good teacher.

History of Magic was definitely the most boring subject, and Professor Binns' voice was so easy to tune out, Sebastian worried how he'd ever pass that class. But easily the biggest disappointment was Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was the subject nearly every student was looking forward to, but Professor Quirrell turned out to be a nervous, stuttering man who seemed too afraid to even teach the subject. It was rumoured that the turban he wore was stuffed with garlic to ward off the vampires he seemed to be so afraid of. Sebastian thought it might even have been true as the turban did seem to smell strange.

"He's a joke. Surely they can't expect us to learn anything from him?" Draco said after their next DADA lesson. Sebastian found himself agreeing, and by the sounds of it, everyone else did too.

As the first week came to an end, they were able to get to most of the lessons without much trouble and were settling into the routine of getting to classes. All of the students were looking forward to the weekend even though the homework had started to pile up. The only other incident that week had been Neville managing to melt his partners cauldron in their double potions lesson on Friday and covering himself in boils. Professor Snape had been furious and had docked a load of points off Gryffindor, which only added to the Slytherins happy mood as the weekend arrived.

* * *

 **AN: Reviews are as good as sweets...**


	5. Chapter 5 - The Hogwarts Library

By the time Sebastian woke up on Saturday and pulled back the hangings around his bed, the dorm room was already bright with the light shining down through the water and the large windows.

Draco and Nott were long gone, their beds empty, the hangings neatly drawn, and their beds made up by the house elves.

Archie, however, was still dead to the world, even after Sebastian had loudly drawn the already half-open hangings around his bed open.

When both of them had gotten up, showered, and dressed, they made their way up to the Great Hall, hoping they weren't so late that they had completely missed breakfast.

The doors to the Great Hall were sitting wide open, and people were coming and going in groups, milling around the entrance hall and the grand staircase. There were still loads of people at the house tables eating and chatting, and Sebastian followed Archie as he made a beeline for the breakfast buffet at the end of the Slytherin table.

Once they had both loaded their plates, they made their way over to where some of the other Slytherin first years were still finishing their food.

"I see the dead do rise then," Draco said as Sebastian sat down next to him.

"Me and Rory were just going to come and get you," Nott said to them from across the table as he and Rory's empty plates disappeared from in front of them. "We thought you were going to miss breakfast."

"Thanks, Theo."

"Would have been their own fault," Blaise added not quite under his breath as he followed Nott and Rory out of the hall.

It was just the five of them now: Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Archie, and him. Sebastian wasn't sure where the girls were, but they must have gotten up early as none of them were still at breakfast when they had arrived.

"What are you doing later, Draco?" Sebastian asked after the others had gone.

Draco shrugged lightly, watching Crabbe and Goyle get up to help themselves to more food.

"We're going up to the library when we're finished if you want to come?" Archie said into the silence. "Got to write up that potions essay."

"Stupid Longbottom," Draco said. "Why do we have to do an extra essay just because he melted his cauldron? We should talk to Professor Snape."

"You think he'd let us off writing it?" Sebastian laughed. "No thanks, he'd just set us an extra one to do. You can ask by yourself if you really want to though."

Draco grimaced, making Archie and Sebastian both laugh.

Archie finished up his food and got up. "You coming, Draco? Or will you meet us in the library?"

Draco looked over at Crabbe and Goyle, who were still eating. "I'll see you up there," he said. "If I don't find something better to do anyway."

Having picked up their bags from the dormitory, the two of them made their way up to the library.

"Where do you think Matt is?" Archie asked as they stepped off the last moving staircase and onto the fourth floor. "He wasn't at breakfast."

"I'm surprised anyone was at breakfast, the time we woke up."

"We weren't that late. Besides, it's the weekend; you're supposed to sleep in."

"You always sleep in." Sebastian laughed. "If Matt's not in his common room, he'll probably be in the library."

The library was pretty busy considering it was the first weekend of term, but it was raining steadily outside, so all the students not taking refuge in their common rooms were spread out across the large space. The rain was lashing against the stained glass windows as they walked through the stacks keeping an eye out for Matt and looking for a free table.

Eventually, Archie spotted a table in an alcove at the back of some shelves, well out of the way of the main area, almost hidden from view.

Sebastian scooted across one of the benches at the table, pulling some parchment and ink out of his bag. Archie dropped his bag in the opposite seat but stayed standing up.

"I'm going to go look for Matt again. I'll tell Draco where we are if I bump into him."

As Archie walked away, Sebastian decided to get started on the potions essay first and took his textbook from his bag.

He was just writing the title down when he heard Draco's voice getting closer.

"There you are," Draco said as he walked up to the table, Blaise following him. "Archie said you were back here, but if I didn't know any better, I'd think you didn't want us to find you."

Draco didn't wait for an invitation before he slid into the seat next to Sebastian. Blaise sat down opposite them.

"Are your shadows not joining us?" Sebastian asked Draco.

"Very funny, Fitzroy. And no, they're with Professor Snape," Draco said, continuing after Sebastian gave him a questioning look. "Something about learning to chop up ingredients properly and not embarrass their house."

"You know, that's quite an achievement," Blaise said, a cold smile playing on his lips as he looked over at Draco.

"Leave it, will you?" Draco snapped as he leaned down to get stuff from his bag.

"What?" Sebastian asked.

"Managing to be behind in their first week," Blaise said. "I mean how dumb can they get?"

Draco stilled, glaring at Blaise, his shoulders tense as if he was deciding whether or not it was a bad enough insult to grab for his wand. Blaise had a triumphant look on his face as Draco shook his head and slowly went back to getting his stuff.

Sebastian shot Blaise a questioning look. Blaise knew Draco was friends with Crabbe and Goyle, so he wasn't sure why he had tried to start an argument. But Sebastian also wasn't sure why Draco had let it go; it wasn't like Draco to back down from a fight. He could tell Draco was angry, but for some reason, he wasn't taking it out on Blaise.

He was still puzzled about it a few moments later when Archie turned up, oblivious to the argument that had just happened and how tense Draco still was. He flopped into the seat next to Blaise and sighed.

"No sign of him."

"Why are you so worried?" Draco sneered, suddenly finding a target for his anger. "Your little brother going to die without you holding his hand or something?"

Blaise snickered as Archie glared across the table at Draco.

"Okay then," Sebastian said quickly before Archie really did grab his wand. "How about we do some homework and not hex each other to bits?"

They spent the rest of the morning finishing their potions essays and going over the astronomy charts they had been set that week. Sebastian could tell Archie was aching to get out of the library by the time lunch came around, and Blaise's constant needling had Sebastian more than happy to agree. He wasn't sure why Blaise had shown up with Draco when it was obvious they didn't get on. In fact, Sebastian wasn't sure if Blaise got on with anybody, but Blaise didn't seem to mind that much.

The enchanted sky over the Great Hall had been gloomy with rolling storm clouds that morning, but when they entered for lunch, it had already cleared up drastically. It wasn't blue skies, but there was no sign of any more rain, so Sebastian and Archie met up with Edgar and Matt after lunch and ventured outside.

The four of them found a spot by some trees near the edge of the black lake and spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and messing around as the sun struggled with the clouds.

...

* * *

...

The next morning, when Sebastian entered the common room, he found the rest of the Slytherin first years gathered around the notice board.

He could see Rory talking excitedly in whispers to Tracey, though others like Nott and Daphne looked much more nervous.

"What's going on?" he asked, coming up beside Archie, who had a glint in his eye as he turned to look at Sebastian.

"Flying lessons." He smiled.

Sebastian smiled back at him as he moved closer to try to look at the notice.

 _-First year Slytherin/Gryffindor flying lessons start on Thursday at 3.30._

 _Meet on the school grounds near the Quidditch pitch._

 _Madam Hooch.-_

"Finally," Archie said. "I was starting to wonder if they'd ever let us off the ground."

"It's been one week, Archie." Sebastian laughed.

"For you maybe." Archie said as they turned to go to breakfast. "I haven't flown in nearly a month. Not all of us have acres of land out of sight of muggles, you know."

"Like it was my fault your aunt and uncle said you were too busy to come over?"

"No." Archie sighed. "I'm just looking forward to getting in the air."

Most of the talk over breakfast was about the upcoming flying lessons.

Draco was complaining, as ever, about having to have the lessons with the Gryffindors but was quickly shut up when Archie accused him of being scared of embarrassing himself in front of them. Daphne, who was worrying about that because she had never been on a broomstick before, was having quick, whispered conversations with Rory. Sebastian had caught small snatches of their conversation, and Rory seemed to be telling Daphne (and Nott, who was listening over her shoulder) everything she could possibly need to know about basic flying.

Matt was waiting for them by the stairs when they left the Great Hall. The two of them split off from the rest of the Slytherins, who were heading back down to the common room and went over to him.

"You're still coming to gobstones club with me, right, Archie?" Matt asked when they'd both got to him.

"Yeah, course. I said I was, didn't I?" Archie took out the gobstones set he had ready in his bag to show Matt.

Matt gave him a relieved smile as he turned to Sebastian. "Are you coming too, then?"

"No, I'm going up to the library to check a couple things. Maybe write Astoria back. I thought I'd walk up with you."

"Oh, right." Matt smiled as they started walking. "You should come, you know. It'll be fun."

"No, thanks. You can show me how much better you are than me at gobstones another time."

Archie and Matt turned off on the second floor in search of the classroom it was being held in as Sebastian kept going on to the library.

The library was less busy than it had been yesterday, but most of the tables in the main area were still occupied. So Sebastian headed straight back to where they had studied the previous day. Stopping on the way to pick up a couple of books on transfiguration that he wanted to read.

He had turned into the dusty row of shelves that hid the table at the end and was nearly at the table when he spotted a girl with bushy hair hunched over a book.

She must have heard his footsteps as she looked up at him.

"Oh." She looked around the aisle as if expecting him to not be alone. When she saw no one else she said, "You can sit down if you like? There's no one else sitting here."

She cut off and looked down at the book she was reading suddenly as if she had said too much. She was staring at the book intently, but he got the feeling she wasn't really reading anything.

Sebastian looked around for a moment. It didn't look like many people came back here, and they wouldn't see him sitting across from her unless they came up to the table.

When he sat down, she glanced up quickly, giving him a small smile before looking back down at the book she was reading.

In fact, now he had sat down, he could see she had a whole spread of books on the table around her.

He could see a couple of the spines of some of the ones in a pile near him.

" _An Introduction to the Wizarding World for the New Muggleborn by Marcus Welding_ ," he read aloud, picking a couple of the top most books off. " _An Encyclopedia of the Wizarding World: Magical Terms to Know by Elaine McKenzie_."

He looked over at Hermione, smiling slightly, but she was staring down at her lap. Sebastian could see her cheeks were bright red.

"Find anything interesting?" he asked as casually as he could as he put the books back down on the table and reached into his bag to get parchment out to reply to his sister's letter.

When he looked at her again, she was watch him closely.

"I find it all very interesting actually," she said slowly.

"I'm sure I would if I was suddenly thrown into a new world too," he said. "What's your favourite thing you've read?"

"Oh, I loved the parts of _Hogwarts, A History_ that I've read so far. It's an amazing book, but the only copy in the library at the moment is for reference only, so I haven't been able to read it all yet," she said in a rush. "What are you reading?" she said, motioning to the books that Sebastian had put on the seat beside him.

"Just some transfiguration stuff." He leaned forward at the table, blocking the books from view. "I actually need to write back to my sister."

He took the letter that had come that morning out of the pocket of his robe.

"You have a sister?" Hermione smiled brightly. "Is she older or younger? Does she have magic too? I don't have any siblings; I'm an only child. Do you have more brothers and sisters?"

Sebastian raised his eyebrows at the onslaught of questions.

"Sorry," Hermione said.

"It's fine." He laughed. "She's older than me, and no, it's just us two."

"She's not a witch then? I mean, if she's sending you mail, then she's not at Hogwarts, right?"

"She left last year, and I wouldn't let her hear you say she's not a witch, if I were you."

"What does she do now? I was reading-" she started looking through the books she had next to her. "Ah, here it is. It's all about the different wizarding careers you could do. It's fascinating."

"She's a trainee at St Mungos," he said. "She started a few weeks ago. In fact, this is the first letter she's managed to send to me since I got here."

"I'd love to go there." Hermione blushed slightly as she realised what she'd said. "I mean, I've never seen a wizarding hospital. I think it would be interesting to see what's different about it."

"Right," Sebastian said as he looked down at the letter he had in his hands. The silence stretched, but he didn't look back up at Hermione, who he could feel fidgeting.

"Are-" Hermione hesitated, "are you okay? I only meant-"

"I'm fine. I just have to write this letter."

"Sorry," she said quietly. "Did your parents-"

She cut off quickly as he sent a glare at her over the letter he was holding.

He sighed, putting the letter down and getting his quill out.

"What do your parents do in the muggle world?" he asked changing the subject.

Hermione told him all about muggle dentists and what they did as he wrote his letter to Astoria.

He'd sent Astoria a quick letter last Sunday after they had been sorted just to tell her what had happened, but he hadn't had a reply. He knew she was busy, but he had thought she'd write him a short message before now.

He'd left Hermione in the library after another hour or so and checked out the transfiguration books he had picked up to read in private later. He wanted to go up to the owlery to see Ava and send the letter with her before lunch started. He had ended up having to stay in the owlery a lot longer than he had planned to. Ava was in a hump with him from leaving her alone in a new place for so long. She flew down to him as soon as he walked in, but once she had settled beside him, she would barely look at him so he had stayed with her out on the battlements outside the owlery before giving her the letter for Astoria.

Lunch had already started when he walked back down the spiraling staircase from the owlery to the fourth floor corridor, and the castle halls were eerily quiet.

He was just about to walk across the third floor corridor towards the main staircase when he heard a grinding noise as if stone was moving across stone. Sebastian had his wand in his hand as he looked around carefully, but there was no more noise.

He started moving forward again, turning the corner of the hallway and stopped as he saw two students further along. They were standing near a statute against the wall and neither had seen him yet.

It was another moment before Sebastian recognised them as the Weasley twins.

He saw one of them whisper something to the other, who then spun around directly towards where Sebastian was standing. The other folded what looked like a large, old piece of parchment and stuffed it hastily into his pocket before stepping up to stand shoulder to shoulder with the other twin.

The twins were just watching him in silence as he walked along the corridor getting closer to them.

"Do you normally act this weird?" he asked them as he came within talking distance.

The twins shared a look with each other before they both replied.

"All the time."

"Oh, that's good to know. I won't find it odd to find you both huddling against statutes in empty corridors if I ever see it again then."

"Shouldn't you be down at lunch-"

"-with the rest of the school?"

"Shouldn't you be?" Sebastian asked the twins back as he came to a stop near them.

"We were just on our way, weren't we, George?"

"Of course, Fred. Lead on."

"So, what were you doing up here? You're in Slytherin. Isn't your common room in the dungeons somewhere?"

"Are you trying to find out where the Slytherin Common Room is or asking what I was doing?" Sebastian asked as they walked towards the moving stairs.

"We know where the Slytherin Common Room is, believe me." Fred said patting his pocket.

Sebastian shot him a confused look, trying to work out what he meant when George grabbed him by the arm.

"We were merely asking why a firstie was wandering the castle all by himself in the middle of lunch."

"I was visiting the owlery. Sending a letter."

"Ah. To your sister, right?"

"Scary looking witch, used to be in Slytherin?"

Sebastian laughed. "Right."

"If you had told us she was your sister, we might have stayed clear of you on the platform, you know."

"She's right scary."

"Well, lucky she wasn't with me then."

He could feel the twins watching him closely as they walked in silence for a moment. They had reached the entrance hall before George spoke again.

"Did you know you'd be in Slytherin?"

"Did you know you'd be in Gryffindor?" He shot back.

Fred laughed. "I like him, George."

"Me too, Fred. It's a damn shame he's in Slytherin." George patted Sebastian on the head before they walked into the Great Hall and parted ways.


	6. Chapter 6 - Flying Lessons

Thursday came around slowly. Much too slowly for Archie, who was getting more and more agitated as the week wore on.

Potions last thing on Wednesday had been a very difficult lesson for Sebastian. He had had to keep correcting a distracted Archie's work to save the contents of their shared cauldron. Unfortunately, they had been sat at the front of the room, and nothing Sebastian did could keep Archie from attracting the ire of Professor Snape. He had been kept behind to do lines and was thoroughly annoyed once he'd resurfaced at dinner.

Thursday morning had changed Archie's mood completely. The weather was similarly sunny, and even magic theory first thing couldn't dull his excitement.

Charms was their last lesson, and Sebastian was watching Archie in bemusement as he put his hand up to answer every question Flitwick asked. As if the more he took part the quicker he could get outside to the broomsticks.

The Slytherins arrived outside first. There were two rows of broomsticks laid out neatly on the ground as they walked down the grassy slope towards where Madam Hooch was waiting.

A soft breeze was whipping at her long, black robes as she turned towards them. Her yellow eyes followed them closely, and Sebastian was reminded of a hawk watching its prey.

The Gryffindors weren't far behind them now, and Madam Hooch was calling to them to get them to hurry up.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she said once they had all arrived. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up!"

There was a quick scramble as everyone found a broomstick. There were a few spares as they all lined up beside one. Sebastian found one next to Archie and saw that Hermione had the one across from him.

Sebastian could see Archie frowning down at the broomsticks next to him. But he didn't have any time to voice any complaints about their condition before Madam Hooch was speaking again.

"Stick your wand hand over your broom," she called, looking around at them, "and say, 'up'."

"UP!" the whole class shouted.

Sebastian's broom shot upwards and into his hand. He could see Archie grinning wildly next to him, broomstick in hand.

Looking around, he could tell which students were used to being around broomsticks and which weren't. Draco had gotten his the first time, as had Rory. And there was a short Gryffindor boy on the other side of the group that had too.

Others had to try a few times before getting it to work. Even those who Sebastian knew had been on a broom before were having difficulty. He could hear the nerves in Nott's voice as he tried again.

Sebastian saw Hermione finally manage to get her broomstick. She looked relieved as she smiled brightly across at him.

Once they all had their broomsticks in hand, Madam Hooch showed them all how to mount them. She went around to each of them, checking and correcting their grips.

She stopped by Draco, who was looking very proud of himself before she told him his grip was wrong. Sebastian winced as Archie, who had also overheard, laughed loudly.

Draco was only half listening to Madam Hooch tell him he'd been doing it wrong for years as he focused on glaring at Archie, who was smirking at him.

"Why do you bother?" Sebastian whispered to Archie.

"What? He's been telling people all week about how great he is at flying."

Sebastian shook his head.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you didn't find it funny," Archie said, elbowing Sebastian. "I saw you smile."

Sebastian shook his head again but couldn't help the smile from breaking through.

Madam Hooch had just finished up speaking to Hermione and Neville and was now back, facing the class.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard, keep your brooms steady and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly." She looked around. "On my whistle, one, two-"

Neville, who had looked the most nervous, had kicked off early and shot straight up off the ground.

"Come back, boy," Madam Hooch shouted.

Sebastian couldn't help laughing, between Neville's petrified look and Madam Hooch asking Neville to come down when he clearly had no control over his broomstick, Sebastian was cracking up. He could feel Hermione giving him a reproachful look, but he wasn't the only one struggling to keep a straight face.

Neville was still rising, spinning around in circles like a corkscrew or a firework. He must have been at least twenty feet up when he slipped sideways off the broomstick.

There was a loud THUD and a sharp cracking sound as Neville landed in a heap.

The students were silent as Madam Hooch ran over to Neville, who was lying face down in the grass.

"Shh, there, there." Madam Hooch's face was as white as Neville's as she bent down next to him and got her wand out to quickly examine him. "A broken wrist. Come on, boy. It's all right, up you get."

As Neville got up, cradling his arm, she turned to the rest of the class.

"None of you are to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! If any of you take your feet off the ground, you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'!" She turned back to a softly crying Neville, and Sebastian could hear her whisper reassurances as she shepherded him slowly up to the castle.

As soon as Madam Hooch was out of earshot, they burst back into laughter.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?" Malfoy cried.

"Shut up, Malfoy." Pavarti Patil said.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" Pansy, a sharp featured Slytherin girl, said. "I never thought you'd like fat little cry babies."

There was more laughter from the Slytherins as Hermione pushed forward.

"He could have been really hurt!"

"It was a broken wrist," Sebastian said, laughing. "He'll be back in class tomorrow with nothing but embarrassment to remember it by."

"Look!" said Malfoy, who had just run forward and grabbed something off the grass near where Neville had landed. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran had sent him."

Sebastian, who had no idea what Malfoy was talking about, crowded closer to look as Malfoy held up a clear glass ball that glittered in the sunlight.

"Give it over, Malfoy," Ron shouted, pushing through the crowd of students and making a grab for the glass ball as Malfoy threw it up in the air.

Malfoy snatched it back before Ron could get his hands on it, smiling nastily he said, "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect. How about—up a tree?"

Ron made another lunge for it, but Malfoy had skipped onto his broomstick and was rising out of reach.

"Come and get it, Weasley!"

Ron grabbed his broom and was in the air before anyone could stop him, but it was obvious he wasn't as comfortable in the air as Malfoy was. Ron's hands were white around the broomstick as he held on tightly, and the stick was wobbling slightly as he got to Malfoy's level.

Sebastian could see by the look on Draco's face that he hadn't been expecting Ron to do even that well.

They couldn't hear what was being said as Draco and Ron were too far away, but he could see Draco glance quickly down to where Crabbe and Goyle were standing.

Neither boy looked like they would be following Draco up there any time soon. In fact, it looked to Sebastian like both boys would rather not get on a broom at all.

He sighed and was about to mount his own broomstick when Archie grabbed his robes.

"Don't," he said in a whisper. "He's not worth getting in trouble for."

He spared one last look at Draco, who was now looking rather worried, before kicking off. Forcing Archie to let go as he shot up to where Draco was hovering.

He gave Ron a rather wide berth as the boy didn't look too solid on the broomstick and came up next to Draco.

Ron, now suddenly facing two opponents instead of one, was clasping the broomstick underneath him even more tightly than before in an attempt to stop the wobble.

"Come on, Draco," Sebastian said. "Get rid of that thing, and let's land before he gets us in trouble."

Draco smirked over at Ron, looking confident again.

"Fetch."

Draco threw it with all his might, and it looped away high into the air before starting to fall.

Ron turned to follow it as Sebastian and Draco landed softly next to the other students, most of whom were still watching the flight of the glass ball as it came crashing to the ground. Ron hadn't managed to catch it, not that Draco had given him much of a chance, and it smashed into the gravel near the castle wall.

Ron had landed heavily nearby and was trying to pick up the pieces of broken glass when some of the other Gryffindor boys met him and dragged him back to the group.

He rejoined not a moment too soon as Madam Hooch came marching back over the grass towards them.

"Back into two lines," she shouted as she drew nearer. "We haven't much time left."

This time when they lined up there was a clear divide been the two houses. Sebastian could feel the dirty glances being shot at him by some of the Gryffindors as Madam Hooch got on with the lesson.

She'd spent so much time getting Neville to the hospital wing that all they had time for when she got back was a quick hover a few feet from the ground as she went around to correct some of them.

Sebastian could see the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first years making their way over for their flying lesson as he landed and dismounted his broomstick.

He waved a quick hello to Edgar as they passed each other, and tried to ignore Archie's grumbling about the lack of flying (which wasn't helped by Draco gloating about what he had done) as they traipsed their way back up to the castle.

Neville wasn't at dinner that night, and Draco was re-telling the whole story to some of the second years with Pansy's help.

"I notice he's leaving out the part where he was scared Weasley was going to knock him off his broom," Archie whispered as he reached for another helping of dessert. "I still think you should have left him to Weasley."

"You don't like him much, do you?"

Archie shrugged as he finished off his food. "I don't see why you do."

"What are you two talking about?" Draco said.

"We were just leaving."

"I'm done too." Draco got up, motioning for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him.

They left the Great Hall and were walking across the entrance hall to the dungeons when there was a shout from behind them.

A tall, brown-haired seventh year was striding across the hall towards them, his yellow prefect badge sitting prominently on the chest of his neat robes.

Draco crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you want, Hufflepuff?"

The boy narrowed his eyes. "Prefect McKinnon to you. And I'd like to speak to my cousin," he said, motioning to Sebastian, "so I think you should leave. Unless you'd like me to set you lines for being disrespectful to a senior prefect?"

Draco glared at the prefect, not moving.

Sebastian saw Archie roll his eyes. "I'll see you back in the common room, Seb." Archie turned to leave, and after a moment, Draco followed, with Crabbe and Goyle trailing behind him.

"What's up, Augustus?" he asked after they had gone.

"I haven't seen you around, kid," Augustus said, relaxing against the staircase. "How's your first couple of weeks been?"

"Good so far," Sebastian said, smiling. He and Augustus were pretty close considering the age gap between them. Sebastian had thought he'd be living with the McKinnons after his mother had died. Other arrangements had been made in the end, and he'd been sent to live with his other cousins in Germany, but they still owled frequently.

"We had our first flying lessons today."

"Like you need them?" Augustus said, chuckling before looking serious again. "I heard someone got injured. Was that in your class?"

"Yeah, a Gryffindor boy fell off his broom-"

"Can I help you with something?" Augustus cut him off. He was looking over Sebastian's shoulder at someone.

Sebastian turned to see Edgar standing a few feet back. He'd obviously been waiting to talk to Sebastian when Augustus spotted him.

"That's just Edgar." Sebastian motioned for Edgar to come over.

"Summerby?" Augustus asked, looking thoughtfully between the two of them. "You're the kid from St. Mungo's then?"

"Er, yeah." Edgar glanced over at Sebastian. "My parents both work there."

"I meant-" Augustus started but stopped as he looked down at Sebastian. "Right. I didn't know you were still friends. I'll let you chat. If you need anything, let me know. I'll see you around, kid," he said to Sebastian as he left.

Sebastian watched him walk away for a moment before turning to Edgar.

"Wanna go for a walk?"

"Sure," he said. "Where are we going?"

"I want to check something on the second floor." Sebastian motioned to the grand staircase, and they started climbing.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Edgar spoke again.

"That was one of your cousins, right?"

"Yeah. Augustus."

"He's the older one, yeah? You said he had a younger brother."

"You've got a pretty good memory. I only mentioned that once nearly two years ago."

Edgar shrugged. "It's pretty hard to forget any of that though."

Sebastian smiled sadly. He and Edgar had first met after Sebastian's mother had died. Astoria was still in St Mungo's, and Sebastian had been refusing to leave her side. Augustus had been there with him every day that first week, but he'd had to go back to school when term started again. The senior healer looking after his sister had decided to bring her son in to see him. He and Edgar had been the same age. After the first day, Edgar had come back whenever he could get his mum to bring him, and they'd been best friends ever since.

"What are we looking for?" Edgar asked once they'd reach the second floor hallway.

"Do you have any classes apart from magic theory on this floor?"

"No."

"And have you ever seen anyone else have any classes on this floor?"

"Apart from second year magic theory, you mean?"

"That's in the same classroom; it doesn't count," Sebastian said, smiling.

"Well then, no."

They'd come to a stop in the back end of the corridor, and there was no one else about.

"I don't get it," Edgar said, looking around.

"Pretty much this whole corridor is deserted," Sebastian said. "Even the girls bathroom on this floor is out of order."

"Do I want to know how you know that?"

Sebastian laughed. "Shut up," he said, shoving Edgar on the arm and shaking his head. "Astoria told me."

"Right," Edgar said, still laughing. "Okay, so this corridor is completely deserted. What's your point?"

Sebastian furrowed his brow at Edgar. "We need somewhere to practice?"

"Oh!"

"Somewhere we won't be found, seeing as it's against the rules."

"I'm following now," Edgar said, looking around more intently now. "You think one of these classrooms will work?"

"I wanted to see if they looked like they were being used." Sebastian lead the way over to one of the classroom doors.

"Is it locked?" Edgar asked as Sebastian reached for the handle.

The handle squeaked as he turned it and pushed the door open. He smiled over at Edgar before walking inside.

They were at the front of a large, dark classroom. There was a blackboard next to a desk at the front of the room near the door, but the rest of the room had only a handful of tables and chairs scattered haphazardly around it. The back part of the room was completely bare. There were no books anywhere or anything to suggest anyone had been in here recently.

"Well, it looks pretty unused to me," Edgar said, running his hand over one of the desks. "No dust though," he said, holding his fingers up.

"House elves," Sebastian said. "Just because it's not in use, doesn't mean they don't clean in here."

Edgar nodded as he went up to the large windows to look out. "It's probably quite bright in here during the day."

"We should get back downstairs," Sebastian said as he noticed how dark it was outside. "We don't want to break curfew."

They headed back out the door, and Sebastian closed it carefully behind him.

"So, why'd you think of this place?" Edgar said as they started walking back towards the stairs.

"Matt and Archie went to gobstones club last week. It was in the same classroom we have magic theory."

"And you realised none of the other classrooms were being used." Sebastian nodded.

They parted ways in the entrance hall, which had been almost deserted as everyone had left dinner and made their way back to their common rooms.

History of Magic, which they shared with the Hufflepuffs, was their last lesson on Friday.

Sebastian thought there probably wasn't a worse time to have History of Magic than last thing on Friday. Most people found it difficult to pay attention to Professor Binns in the best of circumstances. Although Edgar was managing to still take notes as the lesson came to an end. Archie hadn't even started the lesson taking notes, and Sebastian had given up somewhere in-between and spent the rest of the lesson trying hard not to distract Edgar.

When the lesson ended, Sebastian dragged them both out of the classroom and up the back staircase to the second floor.

"What are we doing?" Archie asked as they came to a stop in the second floor corridor.

"You didn't tell him what we were doing yesterday?" Edgar asked.

"What were you doing yesterday?"

Sebastian ignored them as he waited for a handful of second years to pass them on their way to the staircase. Once they had gone and the corridor was empty, he walked over to the classroom they had looked in yesterday, then turned to Archie.

"It's a surprise," he said, smiling. He motioned at Archie to open the door.

Archie walked over to him and took hold of the handle. "Nothing's going to jump out at me when I open this, right?"

"Just open it."

Archie shrugged and pushed the door open, the handle squeaking out of disuse.

The three of them walked into the classroom, closing the door behind them.

They stood at the front of the room for a few moments, looking at the room.

"What?" Archie said.

The massive smile on Sebastian's face fell.

"What do you mean, what?"

"I mean," Archie said slowly as if explaining something to a young child, "why are we standing in an empty classroom?"

Archie and Sebastian stared at each other with confused looks on their faces for a few moments, causing Edgar to burst out laughing.

"What's he laughing at?"

The three of them spun towards the door.

Matt was standing half in the classroom, watching Edgar who had to sit down on one of the chairs before he fell over.

Sebastian rushed over to him. "Come in," he said as he closed the door quietly behind Matt.

"Is someone going to explain why we're all here?" Archie asked.

"To practice, right?" Matt said, looking around. "You were right, Seb. There wasn't anyone in the corridor when I came up."

"To practice," Archie repeated slowly.

Edgar had managed to stop laughing now, and Sebastian shared a bemused look with Matt as Archie looked around again.

"You found us somewhere to practice." A massive smile broke out on Archie's face.

"Well, you've been complaining that you're bored since we got here."

"Thanks."

"No problem, but," Sebastian paused as Archie turned back to him, "don't kill me, I don't think we should practice today. Just spend some time in here, study, play exploding snap." He reached into his bag and got the pack of cards he'd retrieved from their room at lunch. "To see if anyone hears us first so we know for next time?"

"Alright. Good plan," Archie said, then adding, "So long as next time isn't too far away."

The next couple hours passed quickly as they played snap, made a lot of noise, and tried to understand their History of Magic work from Matt's and Edgar's notes. No one stumbled in on them the whole time.

All four of them were in a great mood when they made their way down to dinner that evening, but it didn't last long.

Edgar split up with them as they walked into the Great Hall, making his way down the Hufflepuff table to where his friends sat. Matt wandered off to the Ravenclaw table, and Archie was turning towards the Slytherin table when he realised that Sebastian wasn't following.

Sebastian had spotted Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle standing over at the Gryffindor table, crowding over a scared looking Neville and a furious looking Ron.

"Seb," Archie said seeing what Sebastian was looking at. "Ignore him. I'm hungry, can we go sit down?"

"I just want to see what he's doing."

"Why? It's none of our business if he gets into a fight."

Sebastian turned back to Archie. "And when he wins what will he do?"

Archie looked at him for a moment then sighed. "He'll gloat. Okay, fine. Go and bring him back. I'll save you a place."

"Save us all places." Sebastian said to Archie's retreating back as he made his way over to whatever fight Draco was starting at the Gryffindor table.

He got to them just as Ron was saying something. Ron was half out of his seat and at Neville's shoulder glaring at Malfoy.

"-braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your bodyguards with you."

"What's going on?" He asked Draco as he came to a stop beside him but Draco was glaring at Ron and barely spared him a glance.

"I'd take him on by myself anytime," Draco said. "Tonight if he wants. Wizards duel. Wand only—no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizards' duel, I suppose?"

"Of course we have," Ron said, not sparing a look down at a very worried Neville. "I'm his second. Who's yours?"

Malfoy looked at Sebastian carefully, then turned back to Ron.

"Crabbe."

Ron shot him a slightly confused look, obviously assuming he would have picked Sebastian as his second. Sebastian had assumed the same but kept his expression neutral as Malfoy kept speaking. "Midnight, alright? We'll meet in the trophy room on the third floor. That's always unlocked."

Malfoy waited for Ron to nod his agreement, then started to walk away. Sebastian jogged to catch up as Crabbe and Goyle followed them.

"What was that about, Draco?" he asked as he stopped by Archie, who had saved them seats near the top of the Slytherin table. Draco shrugged and walked off with Crabbe and Goyle to find somewhere else to sit further down.

"So," Archie said dishing food onto his plate, "what has he gotten you into this time?"

"Nothing," Sebastian said slowly looking down the table at Draco.

"You say that like it's a bad thing, Seb."

"Huh?" Sebastian pulled his concentration back to Archie and picked up a bread roll. "No, it's just weird."

"Draco not getting you into trouble is weird?"

Sebastian laughed. He filled Archie in quickly about what had happened as he piled his plate with food. The talk around them turned to the double potions lesson they had earlier with Professor Snape, and it wasn't till much later, once they were back in the dormitories, that the duel came up again.

Draco had walked in late even though they'd left the common room at about the same time, and the rest of them were already getting changed out of their school robes into pyjamas ready for bed.

"When are you leaving?" Sebastian asked Draco as the other boy had started to get changed.

"I'm not."

Sebastian shared a confused look with Archie who said, "What do you mean you're not? You challenged the Gryffindors to a duel, didn't you?"

"Yes," Draco said, but he didn't say anymore until he had finished getting changed. "And when the stupid Gryffindors get to the trophy room at midnight, Filch will be waiting for them. They'll be kicked out before breakfast."

Draco had a nasty smile on his face as he turned to them.

"What's the matter?" he asked Archie. "You don't actually like them, do you?"

"You just chickened out on a duel."

"Archie," Sebastian said warningly.

"No. He just challenged them to a duel. That's what you said. What's the matter Draco, too scared to face them?"

Nott was sitting on the bed between them completely still and looking like he'd rather have been anywhere else.

"I'm not scared, Lestrange," Draco sneered. "I don't have to beat them in a duel; I'm not a bloody Gryffindor. But maybe you should ask the sorting hat to re-sort you? You might fit better with those hot-headed idiots."

Archie leapt up off the end of his bed, but Sebastian intercepted him. Holding him back from reaching Draco. Luckily, Archie didn't fight him too much as he was definitely stronger than Sebastian, but he was still straining to get around him.

"You should show a little decorum, Lestrange. I know Daddy wasn't smart enough to stick around and show you how to act, but we wouldn't want you to embarrass the house now, would we?" Draco walked casually across to the bathroom near his bed as Sebastian tried to stop Archie from lunging for his wand. He looked back at Draco, who he thought was walking a little quicker than he was before.

He turned his attention back to Archie as the bathroom door closed. He was still fuming, silently staring at the closed door Draco had just used but no longer trying to get to it.

"Archie."

"What?" Archie snapped at him, turning away from Sebastian as he climbed into his bed. "I'm going to sleep. Say goodnight to your new best friend for me, won't you?"

Sebastian was shut out as Archie, for once, closed the curtains around his bed fully.

He stood motionless at the end of Archie's bed a moment longer before he looked over at Nott.

Nott shrugged, giving him a sympathetic smile before getting into bed and drawing the curtains around him too.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Potions Master

He probably should have seen this coming, Sebastian thought as he made his way down the back stairs towards the entrance hall.

He was trying to stay out of sight as much as possible until he could get to the dungeons.

Archie had been in a foul mood when they had gone to bed the previous night, and agreeing to meet up in the classroom on the second floor was always going to end up in Archie convincing the others to duel.

They'd spent most of the morning studying, but he'd finally given in to Archie asking him to practice some spells. Only, Archie being Archie, he hadn't waited until he was ready.

So Sebastian was now walking down to Professor Snape's office alone.

Fuming.

It wasn't even like Archie had purposefully tried to hurt him. He'd used a stinging hex that wouldn't have even left a mark if he'd have waited till Sebastian was ready.

They'd still been clearing the area when he had turned towards the sound of Archie casting a spell. The hex had caught Sebastian in the side, causing him to stumble backwards a step.

It wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't stumbled directly into Matt's bag, tripping himself up and smashing his face into a chair.

Edgar had managed to rather tentatively heal the small cut that was bleeding freely on his cheek (Archie had been protesting Edgar pointing his wand in Sebastian's face but had eventually calmed down enough to let Edgar try it). But there wasn't a spell to stop the swelling. Not that Edgar would know it. As much as he had learnt and picked up from his parents, he didn't know everything.

Sebastian slipped through the entrance hall and made his way quickly towards the dungeons.

He'd made it this far without anyone stopping him, and he'd rather not have to explain to everyone what had happened to his face.

He could have gone up to Madam Pomfrey he supposed, but from what Astoria said, she always asked a lot of questions, and he didn't want anyone to find out they had been practicing magic outside of class.

Sebastian reached Professor Snape's office and stopped outside.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down and knocked.

The door swung open almost immediately, and Sebastian stepped inside.

The walls in here, much like in the potions classrooms, were covered in jars and vials. The only wall not covered in shelves or cupboards had a fireplace with a black leather couch in front of it.

It took Sebastian a moment to spot Professor Snape sitting behind his desk. His black robes making him almost blend into the furniture and gloom around him.

Professor Snape was watching him, eyes taking in the bruise on Sebastian's face. He twitched his wand, and the door closed behind Sebastian with a snap.

"What happened?" Snape said, leaning back in his chair.

"I tripped, sir."

"Of course you did." Snape paused then narrowed his eyes when Sebastian didn't continue. "If you are hurt, and it appears you are, Madam Pomfrey is a perfectly good healer. The hospital wing is on the third floor."

Snape lent forward and picked up his quill to continue with whatever work he had been marking on his desk, dismissing him.

Sebastian didn't move.

"I'll keep that in mind next time I need a healer," Sebastian said, aware that he was letting his annoyance bleed through to his voice but not quite able to stop it. "But all I need is a mouthful of Wiggenweld. I was under the impression you were the potions master around here."

Snape was still looking down at the work in front of him, but he had gone completely still. He slowly put the quill down and looked up at Sebastian.

Sebastian tried hard not to gulp at the way Professor Snape was watching him.

After a very long moment, Snape spoke. "Insolence will not be tolerated. Do you understand, Fitzroy?"

"Of course, sir," Sebastian said, trying to smile innocently. But the tightening of the muscles in his cheek caused him to wince as his face twinged painfully.

Snape watched him for a moment longer before standing up and walking around his desk. He went to a cabinet to retrieve a small bottle and placed it on the table.

"Come here, Fitzroy."

Sebastian walked towards the desk until Snape motioned for him to stop in front of him. Snape raised his wand and tapped him on the head, muttering a spell. He held still as he felt the slight warmth of a diagnostic spell wave over him.

Once the spell had been completed, Snape stepped back.

"The Wiggenweld potion would not help if you had a broken bone," he said as he poured a small amount of it into a cup. But before Sebastian could take it from him, he snatched it back. "It also appears that you had a cut above the injury recently healed. And yet, you said you didn't go to Madam Pomfrey."

"I healed it myself," he said, trying not to get his friends in trouble. "It was just a small cut."

"Oh, really?" Snape said slowly, glancing down at the small blood stain on Sebastian's collar. "Then you won't mind telling me what the incantation of the spell you used was?"

Sebastian's eyes widened at the question as he tried to think of what Edgar had said, but he couldn't remember.

"I do not like being lied to, Fitzroy. Am I correct in assuming you will not tell me what happened or who was with you when it did?"

"I did trip, sir." Sebastian was now staring hard at the desk and avoiding Professor Snape's eyes.

"It seems not everything you have said has been a lie then," Snape said after a moment and handed him the cup. "Do you plan to continue getting hurt?"

"I don't think anyone plans to get hurt, sir," he said, downing the contents.

"Are you able to make the Wiggenweld potion, Fitzroy?"

Sebastian shot a confused look up at Professor Snape. "Yes?"

Snape raised his eyebrows. "Well then, you can come and replenish my stock of it tomorrow afternoon at two. That is, if you plan on continuing to-" he paused "-trip."

"That's a two and a half hour potion, sir!"

"I am aware, Fitzroy. After all, I am the potions master here, am I not?"

Sebastian could swear that Snape was almost smiling as he said that.

"Yes, sir," he said shaking his head.

Snape dismissed him. The door closed behind Sebastian with another snap as he walked back out into the corridor.

His face was already starting to feel better, and by the time he reached the Great Hall where lunch was just starting. He couldn't feel the swelling at all.

When Archie had found out he had gotten a two and a half hour detention, he was furious.

Sebastian thought Edgar was right when he said Archie was only reacting like that because it was his fault. And it was all Sebastian could do to get Archie to go to gobstones club with Matt the next morning just to leave him alone.

He traipsed his way up to the library after they had gone. He'd gotten another letter back from Astoria the day before, and it was easier to write a reply in the library than in the common room with the others trying to read it over his shoulder.

He was unsurprised to see Hermione sitting at the same desk in the back when he arrived.

"Hi, Hermione." She jumped slightly as he sat down across from her.

"Still trying to read the whole library, I see," Sebastian said, motioning to the new mass of books around her.

She smiled across at him. "I'm just reading up for some homework."

He started writing his letter, and it was another few minutes before Hermione spoke again.

"You shouldn't have laughed."

He shot her a confused look.

"At Neville. During flying lessons."

"Why not? It was funny."

"It wasn't funny!" she said a little too loudly before taking a deep breath and continuing more quietly. "He was badly hurt."

"He was back in class the next day, wasn't he?"

"Just because it was healed quickly doesn't mean it didn't hurt. And it's not nice to laugh at people."

He watched her for a moment then shrugged. "I wasn't the only one who laughed, Hermione."

"No," she sighed, "and I suppose you found it very funny when Draco pretended to challenge them to a duel to get them in trouble too? "

"No," he said, remembering the argument that had happened in their dorm that night. "I didn't know about that till later, but they were stupid to accept the challenge anyway."

"We could have been caught. I could have been expelled."

"Why were you there? Are they friends of yours?"

"I was just trying to stop them from going," she said. "I overheard them talking about it and knew they would lose us house points if they were caught, so I tried to stop them. But once I had followed them, I couldn't get back into the common room."

Sebastian listened as Hermione told him everything that happened from Peeves finding them to what was on the third floor.

"It was standing on a trap door?" He asked when she had finished.

"Yes, it's guarding something," she said, no trace of her earlier annoyance at him showing through. "It must be!"

"But, you have no idea what?" he said slowly. Hermione's face fell as she shook her head.

"Well, it's good to know they care about students safety so much they're willing to leave a monster lying around," Sebastian said, picking his quill back up to finish his letter.

"Have you finished the potions homework for tomorrow?" Hermione asked after another few moments.

"Yes, haven't you?"

Hermione bit her lip as she re-read the rather full piece of parchment she had been writing on.

"That's not it, is it?" Sebastian said, eyeing the parchment. "There were only three questions."

"I wanted to make sure I had gotten everything."

"Hermione," he said slowly, looking around at all the books on the table again and noticing lots of potions books. "It's first year potions. Everything you need to answer the questions was in the text book."

Hermione creased her forehead. "I just wanted to understand it better. I've finished now anyway," she said, carefully tucking the parchment into her _Magical Drafts and Potions_ book.

"What are you writing about?" she said, changing the subject.

"I'm just telling Astoria how I've already managed to get a three hour detention. She'll find it funny."

"Three hours!" Hermione said. "That's not funny at all. What did you do?"

"What makes you think I deserved it?" He smiled at her.

"Well, did you?"

Sebastian shrugged. "I might have done, I guess."

Hermione gave him a confused look, but he refused to elaborate.

"Who's it with?" she asked finally.

"Professor Snape."

She bit her lip before saying, "Everyone says he favours his own house. I don't know what you did for him to give you it, but you should be more careful. He might dock you house points next time too."

Sebastian couldn't help but chuckle at how serious Hermione looked when she said that.

"It's fine. There are worse ways to spend an afternoon than making a potion."

They talked some more, and once Sebastian had finished his letter, he headed up to see Ava and send it off.

...

* * *

...

Professor Snape was already there when Sebastian arrived at the potions classroom that afternoon.

Snape was just placing a cauldron on one of the desks alongside some ingredients when he spotted Sebastian.

"Come in, Fitzroy, unless you're planning on brewing from the doorway?"

"I quite like it over here actually, sir," he said but moved into the classroom anyway. "It's got nice light. Your classroom is pretty gloomy."

Sebastian sat down in the chair in front of the cauldron that had been set up for him, ignoring the glare Snape was giving him.

He picked up the potions book on the table. _Essential Potions: A Comprehensive Guide_ by Arthur N'gobi.

"The instructions for the Wiggenweld potion are on page 165," Snape said. "And, as you can see, all the ingredients you need are in front of you."

Snape turned sharply, his robe whipping around him, and strode back to his desk. Sebastian watched him for a moment, but no further instructions were forthcoming, so he picked up the book again.

Turning to the page Snape had indicated, he read over the potion instructions. He remembered Astoria telling him, on one of her many lectures about potion-making over the years, that most mistakes in brewing happen through lack of preparation. "Know what you are expected to do, know your ingredients, and you should be able to follow most potions instructions." Of course, Sebastian mused as he looked over the ingredients in front of him, knowing that much wasn't exactly simple.

For example, he noted that Snape had given him whole lionfish instead of just the spines the potion called for. Extracting the spines from the lionfish without damaging the rest of it beyond use would be difficult to do, but he couldn't do them yet as they needed to be fresh to keep the potion as potent as possible once brewed. Of course, that would mean having to fit time to de-spine 10 lionfish and grind the spines to powder in the middle of brewing.

He could feel Snape watching him as he reached into his bag to get a piece of parchment out, but he refused to look up. Trust Snape to make it as difficult as possible, he thought as he started to make notes for himself.

It was another ten minutes before Sebastian was finally ready to pour the horklump and boom berry juice into the cauldron for the base. He'd prepared what he could of the ingredients and made a list of when to do everything else.

He took a deep breath as he ignited the flames underneath the cauldron and got ready to start. Snape was back to completely ignoring him again, but it was, Sebastian smiled as he realised, a bit brighter in the room than it had been before.

What felt like a long time later, Sebastian had just added the penultimate drops of salamander blood to the cauldron and was starting to dissect the lionfish while it boiled when there was a soft knock at the open door.

Sebastian glanced up from what he was doing to see Susan Bones step tentatively into the classroom.

Professor Snape motioned her towards a desk on the other side of the aisle where he had boxes from his store of potions ingredients waiting.

"There will be no talking. Do you understand, Miss Bones? You are here to prepare the ingredients as per the instructions on this piece of parchment." Snape placed the parchment he had on the desk in front of where she now stood. "You may leave once you have finished, but any unnecessary waste will be paid for by you, so I suggest you do it carefully."

Bones nodded silently as she sat down and pulled the first box of many towards her.

Snape looked at the contents of Sebastian's cauldron as he passed and gave what Sebastian would almost swear was a look of approval before returning to his desk.

Another half an hour passed in silence but for the soft bubbling sounds coming off Sebastian's cauldron when there was another knock, and a Ravenclaw prefect walked into the room.

He made his way straight to Professor Snape's desk to speak to him. Sebastian couldn't hear exactly what was said, but he made out the words 'staff room' and 'McGonagall' before seeing Snape stand up.

"You are both to remain here under detention until I return." He stared at both of them until they nodded their understanding. "Follow me, Prefect Singh," Snape said as he strode out of the room.

Prefect Singh shot a shocked expression over at Sebastian and opened his mouth as if to argue about leaving a first year brewing a potion alone before shutting it sharply. He shook his head slightly before turning to hurry after Snape. Sebastian's safety obviously wasn't enough of a concern to the prefect to argue with Professor Snape over.

Sebastian added the last of the lionfish spines and turned the cauldron down to heat through before slumping down onto his chair.

He sighed as he rolled his shoulders. Between looking down to read the instruction and looking down at his cauldron, he was starting to get a crick in his neck.

He looked over at Bones, who was still dutifully going through each of the potions ingredients one at a time.

"So, what did you do?" he asked.

Susan looked around at the still open doorway. "We aren't suppose to talk," she whispered.

"I don't think he can hear us," he said back in a stage whisper that carried just as loudly.

She smiled back at that and then, with one more glance around at the empty doorway: "I was talking in class."

"Ah. And it all makes sense."

She giggled. "What did you do, Seb?"

"Honestly?" he asked. "I'm not entirely sure."

He checked his cauldron again before picking up the silver knife from his desk and pulling out a chair beside her.

"Here," he said as he picked up one of the shrivelfigs out of the box she had just started on. "If you pierce the top of the bulb like this, it's much easier to peel back the outer layer."

He handed over the knife for her to use as he went back to his cauldron.

"Better?" he asked as she peeled another one.

"Definitely, thanks."

A moment later, Snape walked back into the room, alone this time. He glanced over at the two of them still working. Making his way forward, he checked on Sebastian's cauldron and then the work Bones had been doing before settling back at his desk.

It took Sebastian another hour or more to finish the potion, and Susan Bones was long gone when he tiredly extinguished the flames underneath the cauldron.

Professor Snape got up from his desk to look at the potion.

"It seems you've managed to make a decent attempt at the Wiggenweld potion." Sebastian smiled. From what Astoria had said, that was pretty good praise coming from Snape. He reached over to start tidying away the ingredients and was more relieved than surprised when Snape waved him away.

"You're dismissed, Fitzroy. And ten points to Slytherin for completing a potion above your class level. Get out of here before I change my mind."

"Thanks, sir," he said as he grabbed his bag. He made his way straight down to the common room in search of a long shower before dinner. He might enjoy making potions, but he knew smelling like a cauldron when you're trying to eat was not a pleasant experience.


	8. Chapter 8 - Halloween

**AN: Merry Christmas and Happy New year. Instead of a Christmassy chapter you get Halloween.**

* * *

The next few weeks passed quickly for Sebastian. Autumn had well and truly arrived. The grounds were covered with rust-coloured leaves, and flying lessons were getting more interesting in the gusty winds.

The four of them had continued to meet up on the second floor, and, so far, no one had found them. They'd all managed to produce the shield charm that they'd been working on, though Matt was still having trouble doing it consistently. And none of them had had to make any trips down to Professor Snape since that first time.

Lessons were going well. Archie and Draco were managing to stay civil, and no one but Edgar had found out he was meeting Hermione in the library.

Sebastian woke up on Thursday morning to the overwhelming smell of pumpkin wafting through the halls from the kitchens.

Halloween had arrived.

Flying lessons that afternoon had been cancelled in preparation for the feast, but even Archie couldn't find the will to complain about it. The excitement throughout the castle was as present as the smell of the upcoming feast, teasing the students as they went to lessons.

Charms was their last lesson of the day where Professor Flitwick announced that they were ready to start trying to make objects fly.

Flitwick handed out long, white feathers for them to practice with, and then split them into pairs where they were sitting.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing," Flitwick said as Sebastian paired off with Edgar. "Swish and flick, remember. Swish and flick."

As the lesson wore on, Sebastian found that the spell was deceptively hard, even though they were only practicing on feathers.

"You're jabbing at it," Edgar said after a while of them both trying with no luck.

"What?"

"Swish and flick, remember? You look more like you want to poke it than levitate it."

"I want to set it on fire right about now," Sebastian said quietly, causing Edgar to laugh.

Only a couple of people in the class had managed any kind of levitating by the end of the lesson. Edgar's feather had threatened to float a couple of times but had never quite left the table.

"I think old Flitwick is holding out on us," Archie said as they walked out of the class at the end of the lesson. "There must be a magic word he's not telling us. It can't be that hard just to move a feather."

"There are magic words."

"You were saying the incantation, right?" Edgar asked.

"Of course I was, I meant - hey, where are you going?" Archie asked as Sebastian turned to go up the staircase they had come to.

"Library. I need to do the potions homework for tomorrow morning."

"I told you to do that last night when I was doing it. But, no," Archie said sarcastically, "you thought that bloody transfiguration book you were reading was more interesting."

"It won't take long, Archie."

"It's Halloween, Seb! You're not suppose to be doing homework. Is he, Edgar? Leave it, I bet Snape won't even care. He likes you."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Edgar said.

"He doesn't like me," Sebastian said, shooting Archie an incredulous look. "He gave me a three hour detention for nothing a few weeks ago, remember?"

"Yeah, but he let you brew a potion, Seb. Everyone else who's had detentions with him has been scrubbing out cauldrons or writing lines."

"That's true actually," Edgar said. "Ernie MacMillan got a detention with Snape last week. Snape made him copy out the potion instructions he got wrong in class ten times. It took him over an hour to do it as neatly as Snape wanted, and when he was finished Snape just threw them all in the fire."

"Everyone knows he favours his own house though," Sebastian tried to argue as Archie shook his head.

"Not that much. Miles Bletchley in third year—he's just made the Slytherin Quidditch team," Archie added at Edgars blank look. "I was talking to him last weekend, he got a detention with Snape a few weeks ago and had to write a two foot essay."

"Whatever. I'm still doing the homework. I'll be quick, I promise," Sebastian said to Archie. "Go find Matt, and I'll meet you all outside when it starts to get dark, okay?"

"Fine, whatever." Archie sighed, throwing his arms up in the air and turned to walk away. Sebastian could just hear him muttering underneath his breath. "Matt better not be doing homework either."

"I'll see you later, Edgar."

The library was nearly deserted when Sebastian arrived a few moments later. It seemed the rest of the school agreed with Archie when it came to doing homework on feast days.

He quickly made his way to the table in the back, pulling out his book and parchment.

He stopped short when he saw Hermione sat in her normal place. Though he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. The rest of the school might not want to study today, but Hermione seemed to live in here. Apart from meeting up with her every Sunday morning while Matt and Archie went to gobstones club, he had spotted her in here almost every time he'd come in here with his friends.

"Samhain blessings, Hermione," he said as he came to the table.

"Oh," Hermione said as he sat down. She'd been sat with the school copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ open around her and hadn't heard him approach. Sebastian saw her swipe quickly at her cheeks before she looked up. "Hello, Seb."

"You alright?" He asked.

She nodded silently as she watched him get his ink and quill out and start writing. Hermione went back to reading, and they settled into silence.

It was good to sink into the homework and forget everything else for a while he thought, and Sebastian was on to the final question before Hermione spoke up again.

"Why aren't you with your friends? Most of the castle is."

"Why aren't you?" he said without looking up.

Hermione's reply was so quiet he nearly missed it. "I am."

Sebastian stopped writing and looked up.

"I thought we were anyway. But," Hermione paused, biting her lip, "you don't even want to be seen with me, do you?"

He furrowed his brow as he carefully put his quill down. "Hermione-"

"No. I'm right, aren't I?" she asked. "You don't want to be seen with me. I saw how you reacted when your friend Edgar saw us studying the other week."

"Edgar's fine. He won't-"

"Won't what?" Hermione said, cutting him off. "Won't tell anyone?"

Sebastian shut his mouth quickly, realising that confirming that thought probably wouldn't be the best option here. He looked down at the homework he'd been doing. He had been so close to finishing it and getting outside. He sighed.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. But you don't understand-"

"Understand what?" she said sharply. "That I'm a muggleborn, and because of some childish prejudice, you don't want your housemates to know we're friends? I'm not stupid, you know? Quite the opposite actually."

"It's not some childish prejudice," Sebastian said before he could think of a better reply. But this just made Hermione angrier.

"I've heard what they call us. Mudblood," she whispered. "Like somehow my blood is dirty because my parents are muggles. It's a stupid, childish prejudice."

"Stop it!" Sebastian snapped. Today was probably the worst day she could have picked to have this argument, and he was not in the mood. "You don't understand. You think you're clever, but you can't understand. And yes-" he said, cutting Hermione off before she interrupted him, "it is because you're a muggleborn. This isn't your world.

"People died, Hermione. So many people died because of that stupid, childish prejudice. And not just muggleborns. Anyone who sided with them, anyone who stood up for them. It's not some schoolboy prejudice. It can get people killed. It has gotten people killed. It has everything to do with you being a muggleborn."

Sebastian realised he was glaring at her now and looked back down at his parchment. The silence was deafening.

"But the war's over," Hermione said quietly. "It's all over."

Sebastian shook his head and said in a calmer voice, "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't."

"He's dead. You-Know-Who. The books say so-"

Sebastian laughed. "And everything worth knowing is in a book right, Hermione?" He shook his head again as he looked back at her. "My uncle says the Dark Lord will be back. Maybe he's lying, maybe he's mad. Or maybe he's right. And maybe you're right too." He sighed, "Maybe we shouldn't be friends. This was obviously a mistake," he said, gesturing at the both of them sitting in the library together.

He stared back down at his parchment, not really seeing anything he had written.

He could feel more than see Hermione carefully closing the massive book she had in front of her, and he looked up briefly when she stood.

There were unshed tears in her eyes, but her lips were tight and her chin was up as she slowly picked up _Hogwarts: A History_ and walked away from him.

He took a calming breath and tried to focus back on his work, determined to get it finished soon.

He was still in a bad mood a while later when he had finished the work and made his way out of the library and down to the entrance hall.

The doors to the Great Hall, which were normally left open, were closed to bar the students from entering before the feast that night, but the doors out to the grounds were open, and Sebastian could see it was starting to get dark. The sun was setting, the last of the light still trying to peek out from over the upmost branches of the forbidden forest, but most of the grounds were now in darkness. Two massive bonfires had been lit on the grass, making the darkness seem deeper. And shadows of other students could be seen flitting in and around the wisping flames.

Sebastian could hear Edgar before he saw them as he came up to the double doors that led outside.

"-here soon, Archie. He told us to meet him out here." Edgar was standing in front of Archie and Matt, who were standing near the bottom of the steps in front of the castle.

Archie was throwing up and catching an apple in his hands that he had taken from a barrel of them that had been set up nearby.

Sebastian was just about to call out a greeting to them when he saw Archie go to take a bite out of the apple.

He got to them just in time to swat the fruit angrily out of Archie's hand.

"Oi!" Archie shouted, but Sebastian was barely listening as he went to pick up the apple that had been thrown to the grounds a few metres away.

"The hell did he do that for?"

"You're not suppose to eat them, Archie," Sebastian heard Matt say as he bent down to pick up the lone apple. He carefully brushed the dirt from the apple as he walked back towards the others where Matt was still talking. "They're sacrifices to keep the vengeful spirits of dead loved ones away."

"How do you know that?" Archie was asking Matt as he got back to them.

"I read it. You should try it sometime."

"Very funny, but I-"

"Archie." Sebastian cut him off before he could reply with another wisecrack. "Please, stop."

Archie dropped the smile that had been playing about his lips at the expression on Sebastian's face and nodded.

"Are you okay?" Edgar asked, coming to stand beside him.

Sebastian was quiet for a moment as he looked out at the bonfires. "It's not to keep vengeful spirits away. Not really," Sebastian said. "You're supposed to leave a space at your table to show the spirits of loved ones that they're always welcome back. That you're willing to sacrifice food from the harvest for them if they'd just come back." His voice broke slightly on the last word, and he looked down at the apple he had saved from Archie.

They stood in silence for a minute before Sebastian turned to Matt. "Are you going to do it?"

"No, it's all just superstition. And, anyway," Matt said, hurrying on to add more as Archie shot him a look, "it's like you just said. It's to show you'd welcome them back to your table. I didn't know my parents, but I doubt anyone would want the spirits of a couple of Death Eaters to show up at the feast," he said, trying to smile.

"Archie?"

"No, thanks. I think I'd rather my mother stay gone too."

Sebastian nodded as he left them and went over to the barrel of fresh apples to pick up a second one.

"Hey," Archie called, coming forward a few paces just as Sebastian had started walking towards the bonfires. "Can more than one person make a sacrifice for the same spirit?"

Sebastian nodded.

"Well, I didn't know your Dad but," he reached into the barrel and picked out a single apple, "I liked your Mum. She's always welcome at my table."

Sebastian smiled sadly at him and motioned for Archie to follow. The two of them walked out to where there were others standing and walking around the bonfires, leaving Matt and Edgar by the steps of the castle.

They came to a stop between the two bonfires, the smoke drifting across them making their eyes water and the other students moving among them look almost like ghosts.

Madam Pomfrey was standing nearby waiting to tend to any students who got too near the fire and burned themselves. She was dwarfed by the giant shape of Hagrid, who was standing next to her.

Sebastian found a spot amongst the crackling flames and branches and carefully placed his two sacrifices into the bonfire. He half expected Archie to chuck his in haphazardly, but Archie bent down and followed suit, carefully placing the apple in next to his.

He wasn't sure how long he stood there staring at the flames and letting the smoke wave over him before Archie spoke again.

"What are the stones for?"

Sebastian looked down to where Archie was pointing. There were small groups of stones laid in a broken circle around the base of the bonfire.

"Divination," Sebastian said. "But I'd rather not tempt the future, if you don't mind?"

Archie nodded, glancing back towards the castle. "The others look like they're getting cold. Shall we go?"

"Sure. Thanks, Archie," he added quietly as they made their way back to Matt and Edgar, who were now sitting on the steps.

"They just opened the doors to the Great Hall," Matt said, getting up as they reached them.

"Let's go get some food!" Archie smiled, brightening up immediately and grabbing Matt's arm as he bounded up the steps.

"You okay?" Edgar asked, hanging back.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks, Edgar."

The entrance hall was full of bodies in black robes and pointy, black hats making their way towards the feast. Matt and Archie had already disappeared as Sebastian stepped into the slow-moving mass heading towards the double doors to the Great Hall.

Once he had passed through the doors, the space opened up a little as the crowd split up to go to their house tables. Edgar left to join the Hufflepuff table, and Sebastian spotted Archie, already at the Slytherin table, saving a space for him. He was making his way over to Archie when he finally got a chance to look around at the hall.

There were thousands of live bats swooping down around the students' heads and forming swarms up above the house tables. The tables themselves were set up for the feast, golden plates and goblets set out for each student, but the food, like at the start of term feast, was yet to appear on the tables. The ceiling above was pitch black like the night sky, but there were hundreds of lit pumpkins hovering above the tables and at the sides of the room between the roaring fireplaces. The swooping of the bats kept causing the candles inside the pumpkins to flicker as they flew past, making the cutout faces on them seem to change and move as if they were alive. Though, Sebastian supposed, the sharp lines and jagged teeth could well have been enchanted to move on their own.

He was still watching the faces on the pumpkins, trying to see if they had been enchanted when he came up to where Archie had saved him a place.

"It's pretty amazing, isn't it?" Archie asked as Sebastian sat down. "I guess I get why they had it all shut up after lunch. Makes quite the impression."

All Sebastian could do was nod as he looked around at all the students still filing into the room and milling around their house tables chatting excitedly.

Sebastian saw Archie look down at his watch. "It's nearly seven. I hope they start soon. I'm starving."

"Nearly everyone's in," Daphne said to them from across the table, gesturing at the last, small trickle of students still making their way into the hall.

"Not everyone," Pansy said, craning her neck to look out across the hall. "She's not at the Gryffindor table, Milly, look. Can you see her?"

"Who's she talking about?" Archie asked as Millicent Bulstrode stood up next to Pansy and joined her, looking across the hall.

"That Granger girl. Big bushy hair, from Gryffindor, you know her?" Daphne paused as they both nodded. "Apparently, she's been crying in the girls' bathroom all day."

"No apparently about it." Pansy said as she sat back down. "I saw her myself. Padma Patil told me she ran out of their charms lesson before lunchtime crying, and she never turned up to their last lesson either."

"Isn't Patil a Gryffindor?" Rory asked from Archie's other side. "Why were you talking to her?"

"Not that Patil," Pansy said impatiently. "Her sister. They're twins, but Padma was sorted into Ravenclaw. She's obviously the smarter sister. Anyway, we heard Granger ran off to the girls' bathroom on the second floor, so we went to see before the feast. She's still in there crying! Must have been in there all day. How pathetic."

Sebastian tried to join in as the girls laughed, but his eyes trailed over to the Gryffindor table. It was much easier to see now as everyone was seated, but he couldn't find Hermione anywhere. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he remembered the way she had been acting in the library. It certainly explained why she had gone off on one if she had already been upset.

His attention was brought back to the feast as the massive doors were closed with a loud boom that echoed down the hall. The chatter around the hall died off immediately, and only the sounds from the bats could be heard as Dumbledore stood up at the staff table to call a start to the feast.

He waited till all eyes in the hall were on him then, with a great sweep of his hands, he clapped once, high above his head, and the tables filled with delicious smelling food of every colour.

There were small pockets of scattered applause from some students, but most had started to tuck in straight away. The noise rose around the hall as everyone called for different dishes and laughter broke out as conversations started again.

Hermione was quickly forgotten as Sebastian took in the table in front of him.

He was just scooping out second helpings of some kind of pumpkin pasta dish when the doors to the Great Hall crashed open.

A very haggard looking Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the room, his normally neat turban askew and a look of pure terror on his face. "Troll!" He shouted as he made his way towards the staff table. "Troll in the dungeons- just thought you ought to know." He mumbled as he got to the dais, though the whole hall was in such silence (even the bats had seemed to stop making any noise) that it carried to every student clearly.

Professor Quirrell collapsed a moment later, and as if it had been the signal they had all been waiting for, the whole hall descended into chaos as students started screaming and shoving each other out of the way.

Sebastian was vaguely aware of shouting from the staff table, but what was being said wasn't reaching them in the middle of it all. At any other time, he would have found the look of horror on Draco's face hilarious, but looking around, it was an expression shared by most of them and it wasn't funny at all.

Bright red firecrackers were going off near the ceiling now, accompanied by a magically amplified shout as Dumbledore tried to get a few hundred panicking students back under control. "Silence!"

"Prefects," he said calmly once they had all stopped to listen, "please lead your houses back to the dormitories. Slytherins, please make your way up to the library on the fourth floor and wait to be collected."

Sebastian didn't think he'd ever seen the hall empty as quickly as it did now. Everyone was moving towards the doors to the entrance hall, and there was a crush as they all funneled through the doors. Some space opened up as the Hufflepuffs moved out of the way towards the basement where their common room was.

The remaining three houses all made their way up the grand staircase. Prefects were shouting over the commotion to try to herd them all in the right directions.

"First years, follow me."

"Slytherins, this way, please."

"Stick together, Ravenclaws!"

They were all pretty close together, and Sebastian found himself next to Draco and Archie in the middle of a group of Gryffindors. He could see the youngest Weasley brother and Longbottom a few paces ahead of them.

A Gryffindor girl tripped over the robes of some other students nearby, but she was quickly picked back up by her friends.

Sebastian came to a sudden stop in the middle of the chaos, his heart beating wildly as he realised Hermione didn't know about the troll. He was moving again almost straight away though as Archie barged into the back of him.

"What?" Archie whispered.

Sebastian looked at him and shook his head before shoving forward through the crowd. Accompanied by shouts of annoyance.

Draco and Archie were following him through as he came up behind Ron and Neville.

Sebastian shoved into the back of Ron."Oi, watch it!" Ron said before turning round to see who it was.

Sebastian had managed to push Ron out of the flow of Gryffindors he'd been with though Neville was with him still. Neville was looking around nervously, realising that he and Ron were outnumbered, but Ron, who either hadn't realised or didn't care, faced them.

"What do you want, Fitzroy?"

"Nothing much," he said, smiling and trying to appear a lot calmer than he was. "I was just imagining the look on Granger's face when she realises she's about to be killed by a troll." He heard Draco laugh beside him. Ron and Neville had gone quiet. "She is still crying in the girls bathroom, right?" He paused as Ron and Neville looked at each other. "Hopefully the troll will get to her before the teachers do."

"It'll smell her," Draco said beside him. "Her dirty blood must reek."

Ron looked furious at Draco's comment, but Neville was pulling at his arm. He'd gone pale, and Sebastian thought, he could see Neville actually shaking, but he was looking at Ron. "We have to go warn her."

Ron spared one last glance over at the three of them before nodding and sprinting up the stairs with Neville, pushing through the students still streaming around them.

"Good one, Fitzroy." Draco laughed and clapped him on the back.

The Ravenclaw prefects had taken their house down the first floor corridor to the stairway at the back of the castle, so the mass of bodies had thinned out, and it was easier for them to catch up with the other Slytherin first years.

Sebastian looked over at Archie, who was watching him curiously.

He waited another moment as Draco caught up with Crabbe and Goyle. Once he was sure Draco wasn't paying any attention to them, Archie asked "What was that really about?"

Sebastian shrugged.

"You wanted to make sure she was okay," Archie said. It was a statement, not a question, so Sebastian didn't reply.

"Since when have you been friends with-"

There was a loud crash echoing down the corridor from the side of the staircase they were on followed by a deep roar.

Any calm that had been descending over the students was quickly evaporated. A few students that were at the back of the group, nearest the second floor corridor, screamed as everyone started pushing and shoving up the stairs.

Archie grabbed Sebastian's arm and dragged him along the current of students away from the second floor.

"Slytherins this way." A couple of prefects were standing at the edge of the fourth floor corridor, calling out to make sure no Slytherin students got swept up in the rush of Gryffindors continuing upwards. "Quick now. Come on. Slytherins this way."

Sebastian and Archie ran off the staircase. The corridor down to the library was scattered with Slytherin students. The remaining prefects were running around trying to keep everyone going towards the library.

Sebastian kept looking back towards the stairs, but Archie was still tugging at Sebastian's arm, keeping him moving forward.

They were in a small crowd of Slytherins, towards the back of the group, when the prefects that had been left behind at the stairs came jogging up behind them.

They were just about to turn the corner to the library when Sebastian caught sight of Professor Snape's black robes on the staircase back the way they had come.

He turned back to Archie, who had seen what he was looking at. Archie's expression was closed, but he nodded when Sebastian looked at him and let go of his arm.

"Cover for me, okay? I'll be right back."

"Just be careful," Archie said as he turned the towards the library without him.

Sebastian heard a prefect ask Archie if he was the last one and slid into a doorway to hide as the prefect checked around the corner. He heard the sound of footsteps walking away. The corridor was quiet, eerily so after the chaos of the last few minutes.

He wanted to stay there for a moment longer to be sure he wouldn't be seen, but a movement in the corner of his eye told him Snape had moved off.

Sebastian set off at a run, moving as quietly as he could, but the further he got down the corridor, the less he cared. He got to the staircase seconds later, afraid he would be too late to catch up but when he got there Snape was still walking down the steps.

The professor seemed to be limping. Sebastian could see he was leaning heavily against the banister, taking as much weight off his right leg as possible.

He shook his head. He couldn't waste anymore time. Why Snape was hurt or why, for that matter, he wasn't with the other teachers was none of Sebastian's concern right now.

"Professor!" He shouted as he made his way down to him.

Snape stiffened suddenly, straightening up at once as he spun around at the sound.

Sebastian saw the shocked expression change to a murderous glare as he came to a stop in front of him.

"What are you doing here, Fitzroy? Are you incapable of following instructions?"

"I-" Sebastian paused, breathing deeply to cover as he tried to think of a way to explain. "I overheard some Gryffindor first years saying they were going to take on the troll themselves, sir." Snape's eyes went wide as he glanced down the stairs towards the dungeons.

That was worrying in itself, Sebastian thought. If none of the teachers knew the troll was this far up, then he needed to hurry.

"It's on the second floor, sir. We heard it as we were going up."

Snape took off down the stairs immediately, his limp barely showing in his haste and seemingly unconcerned that Sebastian was following.

The sound of crashing and shouting reached them as they flew down another flight of stairs.

The noise was obviously starting to be heard further down the castle too as Sebastian saw McGonagall sprinting up the stairs towards them with Quirrell following closely behind her.

They met on the landing to the second floor just as there was another loud bang. Snape grabbed the shoulder of Sebastian's robes, pulling him back as McGonagall and Quirrell ran ahead.

"I have no doubt you'll follow if I send you away. So wand out, Fitzroy, and stay behind me, do you understand?" He snarled.

Sebastian nodded as Snape let go of him and went after the others.

McGonagall had gotten to the girls' toilets where all the noise was coming from and opened the door. He saw McGonagall and Quirrell dive inside.

He could make out the shouting as they got nearer. A final loud roar escaped, followed by a heavy thud that Sebastian felt through the floor.

Snape shoved him in the chest to keep him in the hallway as the professor went in.

The smell alone was enough to make Sebastian want to feel sick. Even from the hallway, it was making him wish he hadn't just eaten.

He could just see the head of the troll surrounded by smashed up wood and pieces of porcelain through the doorway.

"What on earth was going on?" McGonagall was saying. "You could have been killed! Why aren't you in your dormitories?"

"I believe I can answer that," Snape cut in. "These three decided they could take on the troll themselves. Fancy the glory, did you?" Sebastian could hear the sneer in Snape's voice. He edged closer to the door, trying to see more.

"No we didn't!" Ron protested. Sebastian could just see him now. He was standing nearest McGonagall beside a ruined toilet cubicle. The wooden door beside him was smashed into pieces, the largest of which was still hanging haphazardly on its hinges.

Sebastian noticed for the first time that Quirrell was sitting against the wall as if he had collapsed there as Snape continued. "They were overheard by other students."

Sebastian saw a look of confusion flash over Ron's face as he looked backwards into the room towards where Hermione and Neville must have been standing. Just as Ron was looking back towards McGonagall, he caught Sebastian's eye and exploded in rage.

"You!" He shouted. "You set us up! He's lying professor!" Ron said pleadingly to McGonagall.

"If that were the case," Snape said, "how do you explain him knowing where you were? I should think it is quite obvious which of you is lying."

Ron opened his mouth to argue before looking back towards where the others were and closing his mouth, his shoulders slumping.

Sebastian backed up into the hallway a bit more. It was probably time to leave now that he'd seen they were fine. He'd promised Archie he'd be right back. Archie was going to kill him for taking so long.

"Well," McGonagall's voice carried into the hallway where he was. "I'm very disappointed in all three of you. In all my years of teaching, I have never seen something more foolish. Five points will be taken from each of you. It is sheer dumb luck that you survived long enough for help to arrive."

Snape caught Sebastian's eye, freezing him in place just as he had been turning to leave.

Snape nodded once before turning back to the others. Sebastian took that as dismissal and jogged back to the staircase. He took the steps two at a time, wondering whether he'd be able to slip into the library when he got there or if there would be prefects on the doors.


	9. Chapter 9 - Quidditch

November started in a wave of frost. The castle windows seemed to be coated in ice every morning, and the dungeon hallways were colder than ever.

It was becoming more and more difficult to leave the warmth of the common room to get up to the warmth of the Great Hall in the mornings. The cloaks and scarves they wrapped themselves in helped, but nothing stopped their breath from fogging up as they walked the corridors, making them look more like a group of young dragons not yet able to breathe fire rather than a bunch of snakes.

Sebastian hadn't talked to Hermione since their argument at Halloween. He'd forgone going to the library last Sunday and gone to gobstones with Matt and Archie instead. But the times he had seen Hermione in class, she seemed to have become friends with Ron and Neville, so he'd stayed clear.

November also meant the start of the Hogwarts Quidditch season. This year the first match was between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and the whole castle was talking about it.

Sebastian had just made it to the Slytherin table for breakfast on Saturday when he was accosted by his cousins. A yellow and black scarf made its way around his neck before he could even say hello, and Archie was shoved sideways on the bench next to him as Sebastian was pinned in a McKinnon sandwich.

"Hello, kid," Augustus said, ruffling Sebastian's hair as he grabbed a piece of toast from Sebastian's plate.

"We just wanted to make sure you'd be supporting Hufflepuff today," Newt said from his other side.

"It doesn't look like you're giving him much choice," Archie grumbled from behind Augustus.

"He always has a choice, Lestrange. But only one of them is the right choice."

A couple of the girls across the table from them giggled.

"Whose scarf is this, anyway?" Sebastian asked, looking down at it. Even bands of yellow and black went down the scarf ending in Hufflepuff house crests sewn on each end. He could tell it wasn't new, but it looked well cared for.

"Michael Summers," Augustus said. "He won't be using it, what with being out on the pitch."

"And why won't you be joining them?" Archie asked in his most polite voice.

Augustus looked over at him. "I don't like you, Lestrange. You know that?"

Sebastian laughed. Augustus had been on the Hufflepuff team as their keeper until fifth year, but he had been replaced by someone younger last year. Though his two dorm mates, Summers and Ramsbotham, were still the team beaters.

"And why aren't you on your house team, Lestrange?" Newt asked, leaning forward to look at him.

"First years can't."

"They can actually. There's no rule against it."

Archie glowered at the fifth year before turning his back on the both of them in favour of finishing his food.

"So," Augustus said, bringing the conversation back to Sebastian, "you will be supporting Hufflepuff then?"

"I guess so. What kind of cousin would I be otherwise, right?" he said, smiling.

"Exactly."

"We're glad you agree."

The brothers left to rejoin their own house table a couple of moments later, leaving Archie to reclaim his original seat. They finished their breakfast in relative peace (apart from a comment from Malfoy as he passed. "You're not really going to wear that scarf, are you, Fitzroy?") and got up to follow the rest of the school who were nearly all making their way down to the Qudditch pitch.

The Quidditch pitch seemed even larger than normal today. The raised stands were fit to bursting with excited students making as much noise as possible. The whole stadium seemed to bounce from the commotion.

The first match of the year had enticed everyone down, from first year muggleborns, who had never seen a match before, to the most studious of students who were more often found in the library studying. Everyone was there for the match; even the staff section was full.

"Are we meeting Matt anywhere?" Sebastian asked as they came to the foot of the stands.

"No," Archie said, having to shout to be heard. "I haven't seen him today. I think he got swept up with his housemates."

Sebastian was just heading over to the base of a stand that looked less full when he heard someone shouting their names.

Rory was standing on the bottom step of the next stand, waving them over.

"We've got seats in the front row," he said once they'd reached him.

"With two spare?" Archie asked.

Rory nodded, smiling as they started pushing their way up the wooden stairs. "I guess Crabbe and Goyle are good for something after all."

The stairway opened up at the back of the stand; the view out looking down at the seats and out at the rest of the stadium was pretty amazing. The stands were swathed in house colours; the golden hoops were shining in the sunlight.

Sebastian had been to a couple of matches with his cousins when he was much younger, and it had always seemed enormous to his little eyes. He had thought it wouldn't seem so big to him now, but he was wrong.

Looking around he could even see handfuls of people that had brought binoculars with them.

Rory was leading them down the steps to where most of the Slytherin first years were sitting.

The girls were in the seats by the stairs, spread over the first two rows. He was very glad he wasn't scared of heights as they edged carefully in front of them to get to the seats in the middle of the row. They were 25 feet up, and it was a sheer drop down to the ground below.

Sebastian noticed Edgar in the row of Hufflepuffs behind them about the same time Edgar noticed him. Edgar got up from where he was sitting and moved down the row, so he was directly behind Sebastian as they sat down.

"Nice scarf!" Edgar shouted.

"I got attacked by my cousins," he shouted back. "What's wrong with him?" The boy Edgar had sat down next to had his arms crossed over his chest and looked comically grumpy.

Edgar leaned forward, closer to Sebastian's ear, so he wouldn't be as overheard. "We were in the front row till they showed up," he said, gesturing to the end of the stand where Draco was sitting with Crabbe and Goyle. "He's still in a grump about it," Edgar said, shrugging.

Ernie MacMillan was now making his way down the row to where Edgar had moved. "Budge up a bit, Justin," he said to the grumpy boy as he squeezed in-between them.

"I see you're supporting Hufflepuff," he said to Sebastian. "Good choice. Better than some others," Looking down the row to where Ernie was motioning, Sebastian could see Daphne, who was sporting a Ravenclaw scarf, no doubt given to her by her cousin in much the same way Sebastian had obtained his.

Any reply he might have given was cut off as a magically amplified voice washed over the crowd.

"Hello and welcome to the first Quidditch game of the season. Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw!"

There was a roar from the crowd in reply. Sebastian recognised the commentator as the boy Fred and George were always hanging around with. He was sitting in the front row of the staff box.

"The teams are walking out onto the pitch-"

The two sets of players were gathering around Madam Hooch in the centre of the pitch. Sebastian watched as Madam Hooch gave a sharp blow of her whistle and both sets of players mounted their brooms and shot into the air in a blur of yellow and blue.

They formed up around the centre of the pitch, waiting eagerly as Madam Hooch released the golden snitch. The whole stadium held their breath as she looked at the players one more time to make sure neither team had encroached into the centre circle before releasing the quaffle.

"And we're off!" Lee Jordan shouted.

The large red ball shot up into the air. The match was underway.

"The Quaffle is taken by Hufflepuff. That's Tracey Robshaw, quick off the mark that girl. She passes it to Burgess, and they go speeding towards the Ravenclaw goalposts." The yellow jerseys raced forward, and Sebastian was surrounded by a wall of sound as Hufflepuff put the Quaffle past Ravenclaw's keeper to start the scoring.

"Goal! Keeper O'Neill didn't have a chance with those girls bearing down on him. I wouldn't mind either of them bearing down on me-"

"JORDAN!" McGonagall interrupted him. A wave of laughter spread around the stadium before dying out as the quaffle was back in play.

"Ravenclaw have the Quaffle. Captain Chloe Byrne passes it to new recruit Toke - she drops it! Hufflepuff pick it up with their new recruit Cadwallader. Let's see if he can do any better. He passes it off to Burgess, and they're streaming towards the goalposts again. Ravenclaw desperately trying to get the quaffle back here -"

Sebastian heard the THUD from where he was in the stands as Toke went crashing straight into the the side of the Hufflepuff chaser.

"Foul!" Lee Jordan cried as Madam Hooch blew her whistle. "Penalty to Hufflepuff after that blatant foul from Harriet Toke."

"Aisle Burgess looks too shaken up by that horrible piece of foul play to take the shot herself-"

"Jordan" McGonagall said warningly.

"Okay, sorry, professor. I'm sure everyone would have committed that foul after making such a hash of dropping the quaffle like that." Jordan hurried on before he could get interrupted again. "Cadwallader is flying forward to take the penalty - he scores! Hufflepuff go up twenty points to nothing."

That wasn't the end of Ravenclaw's woes either. By the end of the match, Ravenclaw had managed to concede another hundred points before Hufflepuff's seeker made their day even worse by catching the snitch. Ravenclaw had only managed to put three goals past Hufflepuff's keeper Emmeline Meadowes, who had made a couple of fantastic saves proving why she had been picked ahead of Augustus, to lose two hundred and seventy points to thirty.

It was a very large margin to lose by, and even this early in the season could have already knocked them out of contention for the Qudditch cup.

The Ravenclaws trudged back up to the school, trying to avoid the cheering Hufflepuffs as much as possible.

Sebastian had had to take his borrowed scarf back to his dorm as there had been no way he was braving the crowds of excited Hufflepuffs just to return it. They'd slipped through the entrance hall to the dungeons just to get out of their way.

...

* * *

,,,

Hermione had gone to the Qudditch match with Ron and Neville. She'd been reading _Quidditch Through the Ages_ to try to learn as much as she could, but experiencing it was different.

It had been a very exciting match, but towards the end they had noticed that Professor Snape wasn't there.

"All of the other teachers were there," Ron was saying as they walked across the lawn away from the Quidditch pitch.

"But Hagrid wasn't," Hermione said gesturing to where Hagrid was sitting on the steps outside his hut.

The three of them looked at each other before running over.

"Hagrid," Ron said when they reached him.

"Hello there you three. Been enjoyin' the match?"

They all nodded. Hagrid had invited Neville down to see him a few times, and they'd all gone the other week. "How come you weren't there, Hagrid?"

"Oh, I can hear everythin' just fine from 'ere. Wouldn't want to get in people's way now, would I? Plus," Hagrid said, leaning closer, "I'm not a great fan of being up that high."

He gave them a wry smile as he put a finger to his lips.

Ron gave the others a look before pushing ahead. "Do you know why Snape wasn't there?"

"Professor Snape? No, can't say I do."

"Only, Fred and George told me he goes to the matches, what with being head of Slytherin and all?"

"Normally does, I think," Hagrid said. "Maybe he had some extra work ta do up at the castle."

"You don't think he's trying again, do you?" Neville asked.

"Tryin' what again?"

"We-" Hermione bit her lip and shot a look at the other two, trying to decide how much to tell Hagrid. Ron nodded, and Hermione carried on in a rush. "We think he's trying to steal whatever the three headed dog is guarding."

"How do you know about Fluffy?"

"Fluffy?"

"That thing has a name?" Ron said.

"Well, of course he does. Bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-" he paused.

"The what?" Ron pressed.

"Now, you all look 'ere." He shifted in his seat, looking suddenly very uncomfortable. "Don't you ask me anymore. Tha's top secret, that is."

"But Snape is trying to steal it!"

"Nonsense. Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher."

"We know he was trying to get past Fluffy on Halloween," Hermione said. "He was injured, and we know he didn't get it from the troll."

"He was trying to steal whatever is on the third floor," Ron added.

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" Hagrid said angrily. "Professor Snape may not be the nicest of blokes, but he wouldn't try to steal-" Hagrid coughed and got up. "I don't know what happened on Halloween. But I do know it ain't any of yer business. Now, listen to me, all three of yeh, you're meddlin' in things that ought not to be meddled in. Forget about Fluffy, and forget about what he's guarding. That's between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel. I won't hear anymore about it." Hagrid walked away from the three of them.

He hadn't caught the looks they had shared at the mention of Nicolas Flamel, and Hermione had grabbed Ron's arm to stop him from asking.

"Who's Nicolas Flamel?" Neville asked.

"I don't know."

Ron threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. "Why did you stop me from asking, then?"

"Because," Hermione said, "he wasn't suppose to tell us that. If we asked anymore, he might tell someone. Or worse, tell Snape."

"What if he's gone after it again already?" Neville asked.

"We should get to lunch. If Snape is there, then he probably hasn't gotten it yet," she said before she added in a quieter voice. "Whatever it is."

"And if he's not there?" Ron asked.

As it turned out, Snape was at lunch.

After careful scrutiny from the three of them, he didn't appear to be any more injured than before. They'd decided to keep an eye on him but not tell anyone else yet. Not until they could work out what fluffy was guarding or who Nicolas Flamel was.

They'd spent the next couple of weeks almost exclusively in the library trying to find any trace of who Nicolas Flamel was. It wasn't proving as easy as they would like. None of them wanted to ask Madam Prince, the librarian, incase mention of what they were looking for got back to Snape. But without any idea of what Flamel had done, it was very difficult to figure out where to start looking in the thousands of books the library contained.

The next Qudditch match came around quickly. It was Gryffindor vs Slytherin. They'd all taken a break from the library and gone down to the match on the Saturday.

Snape had turned up to watch his own house play. It was a relief to know Snape wasn't up in the school by himself trying to get past Fluffy again, and the day only got better as Gryffindor went on to win.

Ron had used this as an excuse not to go back to the library at all over the weekend. He and Neville had stayed in the common room, which was still in a jubilant mood after the win.

So, on Sunday morning, Hermione made her way back to the library by herself.

She took out the list of subjects she had written down as she walked among the stacks. She had already checked the most obvious books she could think of, but Flamel didn't appear in any of the concise books about developments on magic and modern history. So she had started listing any subjects he might have been involved with.

Ron and Neville were pretty aimless when it came to searching the library for books, but if she could tell them exactly what books to search for, she thought the search would go much quicker.

She had been looking through the books and scribbling down titles on her piece of parchment for a while when she realised what part of the library she was in.

The desk she used to meet Sebastian at was just around that corner. She bit her lip as she put the book she was holding back on the shelf.

He hadn't been there since Halloween. In fact, he hadn't spoken to her other than a polite word here or there if he had to in the classes they shared.

She'd tried to get his attention a few times, but he always seemed to be surrounded by his friends. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say exactly. She still wasn't sure how she felt about him not wanting to be seen with her, but he had sent her help on Halloween. And if she was honest, she missed him. It was lovely having Ron and Neville as friends, but she'd been friends with Sebastian first, even if he didn't want to be seen with her.

She took a deep breath. He probably wouldn't even be there, but she was going to check.

...

* * *

...

Sebastian was confused. It was inevitable, he supposed. He'd met up with Augustus again in the library to try to get him to explain the transfiguration theory he'd been reading about, and it had all started to make sense. Or at least, it had until Augustus had left, and now he was surrounded by books and scribbled notes and really not sure about any of it anymore.

He was so engrossed that he didn't even realise Hermione was standing right next to the table.

He had been holding a book in the air trying to see some notes underneath it when he noticed her presence and very nearly dropped the book.

He snapped the book shut, purely to keep hold of the thing as he was very aware of how close his inkwell was to being knocked over onto his notes, and saw Hermione flinch beside him.

"Sorry," he said as he put the book down carefully.

She didn't say anything for a while, and he was just about to speak again when she did. "Your friends aren't joining you?" she asked.

"No," he said, trying not to wince at how close the words were to what he asked her the last time they'd spoke on Halloween. "Augustus was just here, but he's gone now."

She nodded to herself before taking the seat opposite him.

He picked up some of the books from the table and put them in a small stack next to him.

"It looks like you're the one trying to read the whole library this time," she said.

He smiled tightly back at her.

"Who's Augustus?" she asked, trying again after he didn't say anything else. "I don't recognise his name; he's not in our year, is he?"

"No, he's my cousin." He paused, watching her for a moment before sighing and carrying on. "He's a seventh year Hufflepuff. You've probably seen him strutting around with his prefect badge."

Hermione smiled. "Was he helping you with homework?" she asked, looking at one of the books left on the table.

"No, it's nothing," he said, stacking his notes into his hands. "I was just reading up on some transfiguration. What are you doing here?"

Hermione looked down at the list in her hands. "I was just looking for some books."

"In a library? I would never have guessed." They both laughed, and Sebastian felt himself relaxing a bit more. "Anything more specific than that?"

Hermione looked at him for a moment before looking around to see if there was anyone else in hearing distance. "Have you ever heard of someone called Nicolas Flamel?" she asked quietly, worrying at the piece of parchment in her hand.

He looked thoughtful. "It sounds familiar," Hermione looked up hopefully, "but I couldn't tell you where I've heard it from."

She slumped back in her seat. "I can't find mention of him anywhere. I've been looking for weeks!"

"Why don't you ask Madam Prince? I'm sure she'll tell you what books to look at."

"No." She sighed. " I can't."

"Why not? I'll go ask if you don't want to?"

"No, I don't think-" Hermione bit her lip then shook her head. "No. I don't want anyone to know we're looking."

"If you've been searching for weeks but won't ask anyone, why did you ask me?"

"You won't say anything, right?" she said quickly.

"Oh, of course," he said. "Right after I tell everyone we had a nice long chat in the library."

Hermione looked back down at her hands.

"I'm going to go." He started to put his notes in his bag.

"You don't have to," Hermione said. "I mean, I still don't get it. Why it's so important to you. But-" She stopped. "Your parents, did they die in the war?"

"No," he said, looking down at the book in his hands. _Transfiguration Principles: An Easy to Understand Guide_. He sighed. "After. They died after. My father died just after it ended." He gave a short, bitter laugh. "He survived the war just to be killed on his way home from work."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said.

He shook his head. "It's not like I knew him; I wasn't even two when they killed him."

"Because he'd stood up for muggleborns?" She asked. Sebastian looked up at her, his brow creased in question. "You said anyone who stood up for them-"

"No," he said, shaking his head, "He survived all that in the war. It was the muggleborns that killed him afterwards."

"What?"

"My father was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for the Ministry at the end of the war," he said. "Some people thought he was a spy for the Dark Lord, so when the war was over and he was still in charge, they targeted him. Killed him in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic itself. I guess nowhere is safe."

Hermione had a horrified look on her face. "Why would they think that?"

Sebastian shrugged. "Rumours. I guess he hung around with the wrong people in school or something," he said, smiling sadly. "I don't know; I was only a kid."

They sat in silence. Sebastian could feel Hermione watching him, but he kept his eyes on the book in his hands. Unlike most of the books he had been reading, this one wasn't a library book; it was his sister's. The edges were well worn from all the times Astoria had shoved it in her bag. He ran his hands over the cracked spine.

Hermione coughed lightly. "And your mum?"

"She only died a couple of years ago. Nothing to do with the war." He paused before a small smile graced his lips and he looked up at Hermione. "Do you always ask your friends really personal questions?"

"Sorry, I just - you never talk about it. But, with what you said, and I - it's just- I wondered and- never mind. I shouldn't have asked."

Sebastian smiled as Hermione tried to stutter out an apology. Once she had finally come to a stop, they looked at each other then burst out in quiet laughter.

The silence as they both stopped laughing felt a lot more comfortable.

"You never answered the question," Sebastian said, trying to sound casual. "Have you been asking Longbottom and Weasley loads of questions too?"

Hermione shook her head, not noticing how Sebastian seemed to relax a bit at her answer. "No, I guess it's never come up. Since Halloween we've been focusing on trying to figure out what Fluffy is guarding and now who Flamel is. And," she paused, then said more quietly, "I haven't been friends with them as long. I didn't want to have another argument."

Hermione looked down at her piece of parchment. It was getting more and more crumpled as she worried at it. She placed it on the table and tried to flatten it out.

"Who's Fluffy?" Sebastian asked into the silence.

"Oh, the three headed dog I told you about."

"You called it Fluffy?" Sebastian said, trying to hold back a laugh.

She smiled. "No, Hagrid did. We asked him about it because-" Sebastian saw her brow crease slightly. "Nevermind. But that's when he mentioned Nicolas Flamel."

Sebastian could tell Hermione was holding something back but he nodded anyway. He went back to sorting his notes back into his bag before the two of them started talking about different sections in the library that Hermione might find Nicolas Flamel in.


	10. Chapter 10 - December at Hogwarts

December arrived without much fanfare, and Sebastian could barely believe they had been at Hogwarts a full term already.

Hagrid, the gamekeeper, had amassed a large pile of fir trees by his hut on the grounds that was steadily growing every time he came back from a trip to the forest.

On their way down to the greenhouses for Herbology one morning, the students were greeted by a long line of a dozen trees leaning up against the castle walls. A light dusting of snow covering the grounds showed them the tracks from where they had been dragged up to the school.

The buzz of the upcoming Christmas holidays started reverberating through the castle as the trees started appearing one by one in the Great Hall.

You couldn't look around at the tables or in the common room for students pouring over owl order catalogues to get their present orders in on time for Christmas.

Sebastian was just sitting down next to Draco at the Slytherin table for breakfast one morning when the owls flew in again with the post. Eagerly waiting students quickly discarded letters from home in favour of searching through the newly arrived catalogues.

A small, brown owl swooped down in front of Sebastian, dropping a letter. Sebastian barely had time to feel surprise that such a small owl had made it through the snowy weather before it shot up again and flew away. He frowned as he opened up his letter, glancing down at the signature at the bottom of the page.

"What's wrong?" Archie asked from across the table. "You look like someone just killed your owl."

"It's from Loki."

"I thought Loki was ignoring you?"

"Who's Loki?" Draco said.

"My little cousin. And he was ignoring me."

"Well, what does he want?" Archie asked as he stuffed another piece of toast into his mouth.

Sebastian didn't answer as he focused on reading through the letter again.

Archie, obviously bored of waiting for an answer, snatched the letter out of his hands.

"Oi!" It was Draco who shouted a protest and tried to grab the letter back. Archie leaned back as he looked at the letter, taking himself out of Draco's reach. "You need to learn some manners, Lestrange! You can't just go around stealing people's mail."

Archie spared time to glare at Draco before throwing the letter back to Sebastian. "It's in German anyway, Draco. I can't read it. What did he say, Seb?"

"He's asking me to come home for the holidays."

"You are going home, aren't you?" Draco said.

"He means back to Germany," Sebastian said, ignoring Draco's question. "He's been angry at me since I moved back home with Astoria. It's the first time he's written to me since summer."

"Tell him you'll visit," Archie said, "or better yet, tell him to come visit you. Me and Matt'll come over, and we can play a game of Quidditch or something. I want to see how much Matt's flying has improved."

The conversation turned to what plans people had over the break, but Sebastian wasn't paying much attention.

Professor Snape had made a rare appearance in the common room earlier in the week asking anyone who wished to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays to see him in his office so he could put their name down on his list.

Before that, Sebastian hadn't spared much thought to what would happen over the holidays, but since Snape had mentioned it, he had been wondering if he should stay.

He had been wondering all week, and while he knew what he wanted to do, he was no closer to actually making the decision.

He had thought Astoria probably wouldn't miss him much as she'd be at work most of the time. But he'd received an extremely formal letter from her just the other day.

 _I am writing to ask what it is you wish to do in regards to the upcoming holidays._

It practically screamed at him that there were things she wasn't saying. Story always did hide in formality when things were difficult. And he'd been puzzling all week whether she was not telling him that she would rather he didn't come home or if she was not telling him that she really wanted him to come home.

She'd also mentioned that she'd received letters from both the Reinhardts in Germany and the McKinnons offering to take him. Sebastian had ruled those out pretty quickly. Augustus had asked him in person to come and stay too, but the more he mentioned it, the more it felt like charity to Sebastian. He had no inclination to spend the holidays pretending to play happy families with someone else's parents. Not with the anniversary of his mother's death coming around again.

He sighed. There wasn't much point writing to Astoria again. It was obvious she wanted to leave it to him to decide what he wanted to do.

He shook his head, trying to focus on the conversation around him. He had until the end of the week to tell Professor Snape after all.

...

At the end of lessons that day, Sebastian made his way up to the library. He wanted to write Loki back straight away. Although telling Loki he wasn't coming was probably only going to make Loki more angry at him.

Hermione was sitting at a table in the main section of the library; Sebastian didn't see her as he walked past. He was thinking about what he was going to say to Loki.

He went to his normal table in the back and got out Loki's letter to re-read as he sat down.

Hermione appeared by the table moments later with a concerned look on her face. "What's wrong?" she said, startling Sebastian out of his thoughts.

"Nothing." He sighed. He put the letter down on the table as he got parchment and ink out of his bag.

He saw Hermione eyeing the letter as he turned back to the table.

"You can read it if you like," he said, smiling as sweetly as he could.

She gave him a suspicious look then leaned forward to pick it up. She glanced at it a moment before letting out a chuckle.

"Who's Loki?" She asked, picking up on the only bit of the letter she could understand.

"My cousin. He wants me to go back home to Germany for the holidays. His words not mine."

"And you don't want to?"

Sebastian shrugged. "I'd rather not. It's not my home. It's just-" He stopped, sighing for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

"You can tell me, you know?" Hermione said. "I won't tell anyone."

"He's been mad at me since I left in June. I was only living with them until Astoria finished school, and when she did, I moved home. Only, Loki-" He stopped as he tried to find the right words to explain. "He's younger than me. His brothers and sister are all older, so they've gone to school already."

"So he's alone at home?"

"Yeah, he hasn't spoken to me since I left. This is the first letter he's sent me."

Hermione nodded in understanding. "What are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know. I think- I'm going to stay at Hogwarts, so he won't even get to visit me. Whatever I say, he'll just get angry and stop talking to me again."

"I'll help you write back to him if you like? And if you are staying here, you can do me a favour and try to look up Nicolas Flamel over the holidays? You might have better luck than me."

Sebastian agreed, and they spent the next half hour over a scrap of parchment as Hermione tried to put together a letter for Sebastian to send to Loki. Once they were done, he wrote it up and took it straight to the owlery to send it. Hoping that Loki would reply rather than just ignore it like the last couple of letters Sebastian had sent him.

...

* * *

...

When he woke up the next day, the whole grounds were blanketed in several feet of snow. Flying lessons hadn't been cancelled, and it was with great excitement that they all made tracks in the snow down to Madam Hooch. The two neat rows of broomsticks that normally waited for them were absent. If it weren't for the large pile of brooms next to Madam Hooch, Sebastian would have thought they were buried under the snow.

Madam Hooch spent the lesson barely bothering to stay in control as the twenty or so kids flew around in glee. Some were flying low to the ground leaving patterns or writing their names in the snow by trailing an arm or a leg as they flew slowly around.

Others were having snowball fights. Shrieks of laughter following them around as they dove into snow drifts to make snow balls then quickly re-mounted to chase friends and throw them at. A few of the more comfortable fliers were even trying to scoop up snow balls without stopping.

Sebastian was laughing as Rory took both hands off his broomstick to try to do just that. He failed miserably and ended up face planting in the snow as his broom fell forward. Archie was laughing so hard he had to land next to Rory or risk the same fate. It quickly descended into the both of them rolling on the ground shoving snow down each other's robes.

Sebastian shook his head and took off higher on his broom to look around the grounds.

Their group weren't the only students outside, and he could see that off on the other side of the grounds where some of the older students had made snow forts. They were having an all out snow war with lines drawn and trenches dug.

Closer to where they were he could see Quirrell, his turban a bright mark against the backdrop of white snow and black robes, rushing up towards the castle, bewitched snow balls following him the whole way.

Sebastian's eyes locked on the Black Lake as he flew even higher, and the smile that had been aching his frozen cheeks fell away.

It was frozen over, and a handful of students had ventured out on to it. They were shuffling around and were grabbing onto each other as they fell down. One of them had even found what looked like a silver platter and was using it as a board to try to skim across the ice.

He'd managed to put all thought of Loki out of his head since he had written the letter yesterday. But seeing the lake brought it all back.

He remembered his first few weeks in Germany. After his sister had finally gotten out of St Mongos and returned to school, he had been portkeyed out to northern Germany. It had been January, and even the grass he had walked across had been frozen solid. It crunched under his feet whenever he left the house.

Loki had taken it upon himself at seven years old to try to teach his older cousin how to ice skate on the lake near the house. Being in the house only reminded Sebastian of what had happened, knowing that his mother wouldn't be coming down the hallway or waiting in the other room. They'd spent as much time as they could out on the ice, covered in bruises but laughing the whole time.

He wished he could bring Loki here.

WHAM!

Icy pain lanced across the side of Sebastian's face, snapping him out of his thoughts as a snowball hit him square on his jaw.

His breath hitched as he over balanced. His arms flinging out to try to grab hold of the broomstick as he fell sideways.

He had just enough time to curse himself for flying so high before he lost contact with the broomstick all together.

He heard someone scream from nearby as he started plummeting towards the ground.

A blur of black shot across his vision as something hard and very solid hit him across his chest, knocking the wind out of him before a moment later his back slammed into the ground.

The landing was a lot softer than he'd been expecting considering the height he had fallen from, even taking into account the snow. But it was still a hard landing, and any breath that had been left in his lungs after the first hit had definitely been snatched out.

He stayed motionless for a second as he tried to take a deep breath and get his heart rate back under control. He hadn't heard any bones snap, which was always a good sign.

He took a look around him, trying to figure out what had happened and why he wasn't in a much worse situation.

Archie was sitting two foot deep in the snow a couple of metres behind him. Only his head and shoulders visible above the snow. He looked almost as white as the snow around him as Sebastian watched him shakily try to get to his feet.

Sebastian's attention was quickly diverted by the sound of multiple feet touching down near him. Madam Hooch was hurrying over with a scared looking Draco beside her. The rest of the class weren't far behind.

Sebastian pushed himself into a sitting position just as Archie, who had managed to regain his feet, slumped down, sitting heavily on the ground next to him.

"Sorry," he whispered. Sebastian only had time to shoot him a confused look before Madam Hooch got to them.

"We're fine," he managed to get out quickly, not wanting her to fuss. "I'm not hurt."

"Let me check," she said, bending down and tapping him on the head with her wand as her piercing yellow eyes roved over them.

The rest of the class stood in silence as Madam Hooch nodded to herself and stood up. "Right then. An end to the lesson, I think. Here are the next class." She motioned to an approaching swarm of black robes that were just leaving the castle. "Broomsticks over there in a pile, please."

There was a groan from some of the students as they all went to do as they were told.

She turned back to the two of them; neither had moved from their seated position, although the snow was slowly melting around them and soaking their robes. "Now," she said, trying to regain her composure, "do either of you need help getting back to the castle?"

They both shook their heads. She gave them one last, long look before nodding. She picked up both of their broomsticks that had fallen nearby and walked off to put them on the pile with the rest of the broomsticks, ready for the oncoming class.

A few of the others had hung around, and Sebastian could see Hermione off to the side with Longbottom and Weasley. She was watching him with a very worried look on her face but left quickly as Neville tugged on her sleeve.

"Merlin, I thought you were a goner then," Draco said to Sebastian.

"Thanks for helping me, Draco," Archie said angrily, colour suddenly coming back to his face.

"Well, I didn't know what you were going to do, did I?" Draco snapped back. "Far be it from me to know when you're about to try to kill your friends, Lestrange."

"I didn't try to kill him," Archie said, nearly shouting.

Draco rolled his eyes and walked off. Crabbe and Goyle, who had been loitering nearby, joined him.

Sebastian saw a few of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs that were nearest shoot interested looks over.

"Come on," he said, grabbing Archie's arm and shakily dragging him to his feet. He was becoming very aware of both Edgar and Matt staring over at them. "Let's go."

He started following Draco's tracks back to the castle, rubbing at his chest where Archie had cannoned into him. "I think I'm going to have a bruise."

"I'm sorry," Archie repeated quietly.

Sebastian looked sideways at him. "I'm assuming you threw the snowball then? Unless you're apologising for catching me?"

"I thought it would be funny."

Sebastian let a breath of laughter out. Archie looked up at him, confusion colouring his face, causing Sebastian to laugh some more.

"I'm getting deja vu," he said through the laughter. "I'm sure you've thrown things at me, and I've fallen off my broomstick before."

Archie was smiling wryly now too. "At least I caught you this time." He shoved Sebastian in the side.

Another moment passed before Sebastian started laughing again.

"What?" Archie said, smiling.

"I'm just remembering Story's face when it happened last time."

"You can laugh. I thought she was going to kill me! You were covered in blood from where the bludger hit you, and your arm was all -" He mimed how Sebastian had looked with his shoulder dislocated.

Both of them were howling with laughter by the time they got up to the entrance hall.

...

* * *

...

Draco was still shooting Archie glares that night at dinner though Archie seemed to be oblivious to them as he spent most of the meal leaning over Rory's shoulder looking through a Quidditch supplies catalogue.

He was still doing so when Sebastian finished, so Sebastian left the hall alone, trying to catch up with Draco.

When he did catch up with Draco, they were just behind Weasley and Longbottom, who were heading toward the Grand Staircase.

"I do feel so sorry," Draco said loudly, his voice easily carrying to the other two boys, who stopped and turned back to them, "for all those people who have to stay all alone at Hogwarts for Christmas because there's no one capable of looking after them at home."

Draco had obviously aimed the jibe at Neville, who had gone red, not realising how close to home the words were for Sebastian.

"He won't be alone," Ron said. "I'll be here too."

"Oh, of course, my mistake. Obviously your family can't afford to have you all back at once. How silly of me."

Sebastian saw Draco's eyes go wide as Ron's hand shot into the pocket of his robes, fumbling for his wand.

Too late, Draco scrambled for his wand too.

After months of practice, Sebastian was quicker on the draw than either boy.

"Expelliarmus!" Sebastian ended the sharp movement with a sweeping gesture as Neville had also managed to get to his wand out. Both wands clattered to the ground nearby, and the Gryffindors went to the ground after them. He knew aiming at multiple targets made the spell weaker, but he didn't need that much time.

He grabbed Draco by the arm and pulled him towards the entrance to the dungeons. Christmas holidays were so near, and he didn't want a detention for whatever jinx Draco had been about to throw at the wandless boys.

When they made it to the passageway without any sign of being followed, Sebastian let go and shoved Draco away from him. "It might be a good idea to not get into fights without your bodyguards near."

"I don't need them," Draco sneered. "I could have taken those pathetic excuses for wizards myself."

Sebastian shook his head and walked away. Draco jogged to catch up giving him a funny look.

"What's wrong with you, anyway? You weren't scared, were you?"

"I'm not going home for the holidays, Draco," he said, coming to a stop. "I'm staying at Hogwarts too."

Draco stopped beside him in silence.

"What," Sebastian said, "no snide remark?"

Draco screwed his face up, pressing his lips together. He didn't say anything straight away as he looked down the empty hallway, thinking.

"I didn't know you were staying," he said after a while.

Sebastian huffed out a laugh and started walking again. That was almost an apology coming from Draco.

"Have you told Professor Snape yet?"

"No."

They walked down the spiral stairs that lead to the common room in silence. Draco stopped at the bottom of them.

"What?" Sebastian asked when Draco didn't follow.

"Snape's office is right there," Draco said, pointing over his shoulder. "If you wanted to do it now."

Sebastian looked at the closed door to Snape's office. Shrouded in shadows and as uninviting as ever.

"He always leaves dinner early, so he should be there," Draco added.

"Right," Sebastian said. "I'll see you back in the common room then."

Draco nodded and turned to leave. Sebastian watched his retreating back until he turned the corner and disappeared. Turning back to the door, he took a deep breath and knocked.

He had to wait a moment before the door swung open.

When he entered, he saw Snape was standing by a bookcase at the side of the room. He had a closed book in one hand and his wand in the other.

"Have you come to deplete my stores again?" Snape said when he saw who it was. "Managed to get injured on the short journey back from dinner perhaps?"

"No," Sebastian said, "and that was once."

"What is it you want, Fitzroy?"

"I was just-" Sebastian was suddenly glad that Snape seemed to love gloomy, dark rooms as he felt his cheeks warming up. Telling a teacher you'd rather stay in a cold, empty castle rather than go home seemed a lot more embarrassing than it had a moment before. He scratched the back of his neck, avoiding Snape's eyes as he started again. "I wanted to sign up to stay over the holidays."

Sebastian chanced a glance up at Snape in the following silence. A look of understanding passed through Snape's black eyes before he carefully replaced the book he was holding and moved towards his desk.

He tapped his wand against the surface once. A quill, ink pot and a piece of parchment with a list of names appeared on the desk.

"You will be expected to be on your best behaviour," Snape said as Sebastian picked up the quill. "Just because there will be no lessons does not mean school rules cease to apply."

Sebastian nodded his understanding as he glanced at the other names on the list. No one from first year had put their names down, not that he had expected to see their names. Everyone had been talking excitedly about their plans all week. But the list was shorter than Sebastian had expected. He knew most students who stayed behind over the holidays were normally either OWL or NEWT level students, but he had been hoping to see some younger students staying too.

He put the quill down, trying not to let the miserable feeling that had come over him show. Snape was watching him carefully. "Will that be all?"

"Yes, sir." He turned to leave.

He was almost at the office door when Snape spoke again. "Sebastian."

The use of his first name jolted him out of his thoughts as he looked back towards the professor.

"I think you will find Christmas at Hogwarts to be quite-" He paused, finding the right word, "pleasant."

Sebastian nodded, smiling slightly. "Thanks, sir."

...

By the time Sebastian had gotten back to the common room, he could see Rory had returned.

He made his way over to where he was sitting with Draco and the other first years.

"Get it done?" Draco asked.

He nodded as Rory looked up. "Get what done?"

"Nothing. Where's Archie?"

"He went back to your room. I think he was looking for you, but he had homework to do for tomorrow."

"I'm going to go find him then," he said. "I'll see you later, Draco."

He found Archie in the dorm room lying on his front, chewing on the end of a quill.

"You know that's my bed, don't you?"

"Hmm? Oh, hey, Seb, you've done this homework already, right?"

Sebastian smirked at the way Archie ignored his question as he went over to Archie's bed to sit down and take his boots off.

"That depends on what homework you're doing."

"Magic theory," Archie said, before mimicking their professor's voice. "List three separate examples of the temporary nature of magic, explaining each point thoroughly. I only have one, but I don't know how I'm suppose to explain it."

Sebastian got up to look at what Archie had written. "You're being too general. You can't just say a spell will wear off. Name a spell."

Archie screwed up his face in thought, causing Sebastian to laugh. "Come on, Archie. We've practiced loads of spells that would count."

"I know. All I can think of are ones that don't fit like the disarming charm." He sighed. "Oh, shield charm."

"Right, and how long does that last?"

"If you're lucky? Long enough."

Sebastian laughed. "You could name another spell as well. Me and Edgar gave an example of transfiguration too."

Archie nodded, scribbling down another answer. "So, where did you get to? I was looking for you. Draco said he got you into another fight."

"That's exactly what Draco said, was it?" Sebastian asked bemused.

Archie shrugged. "He was laughing about you making Weasley and Longbottom scramble around on the ground for their wands. Only, you don't tend to get in fights unless someone else starts them."

"Draco said some stuff about them staying over the holidays. They overreacted."

Archie's eyes narrowed. "You're staying over the holidays, too."

Now it was Sebastian's turn to shrug.

"You think Draco's going to be any nicer about it when he finds out you're staying?" Archie asked.

"Actually, he didn't say anything when I told him."

Archie opened his mouth to say something then closed it again as what Sebastian had just said registered.

"You told him?"

Sebastian nodded. Archie closed the ink pot he had been using and sat up.

"And he didn't say anything?"

"Nope. I guess he isn't as bad as you think he is."

"To you maybe. He'd have been just as mean if I was the one staying."

"I know," Sebastian said. "Now, get off my bed."

...

* * *

...

The last week of lessons passed too quickly. Sebastian hadn't had any reply from Loki, but he had gotten a letter from Astoria wishing him a good holiday.

The Hogwarts Express would be leaving at 11 am tomorrow. Most of the castle were in their dorm rooms frantically packing.

Archie had been shooting Sebastian worried looks all afternoon as he tried to stuff all the things he wanted to bring home into his bag. Sebastian had finally had enough of them and had announced he was going for a walk.

The corridors were empty. He'd been wandering around for ages when he decided to make his way back down to the dungeons. Archie was surely packed by now.

Sebastian was just walking onto the last of the moving staircases going down to the first floor landing when he spotted the Weasley twins crouched at the side of the grand staircase.

Both of the twins seemed to be absorbed in whatever they were doing, and Sebastian was almost certain that whatever they were doing was something they weren't supposed to be doing at all.

He became aware of the sound of footsteps approaching. He reached the first floor landing to see McGonagall striding their way. Neither twin looked up from what they were doing, seemingly unaware that at any moment professor McGonagall was going to turn the corner onto the Grand Staircase and spot them.

"Professor McGonagall!" Sebastian said loudly, moving quickly towards McGonagall before she reached the archway that would bring her to the steps. Out of the side of his vision he saw Fred and George look up, eyes wide before they were out of his sight.

"Mister Fitzroy," McGonagall said, coming to a stop.

"I was wondering if you could answer a question. About transfiguration."

"Very well, what is it?"

"Uh-" Sebastian thought quickly, hoping something would come to mind. "Oh, you mentioned in class about a spell to detect things that had been transfigured?"

She nodded, shifting the books she had in her arms.

"I was wondering if there were any transfigurations that couldn't be detected? Like, metamorphmagus or animagus transformations?"

She watched him for a moment before answering, "It's an interesting point. A metamorphmagus' magic doesn't interact in the same way as a transfiguration spell, so in answer, no there are no spells that could detect the transformation. As for animagus transformations, they can be detected but not by using the Sensus Mutatio spell. They don't follow the same principles of transfiguration and therefore need a more specific incantation. If that is all?" she said.

"Er, yes. Thanks, Professor." He couldn't think of anything else to say to keep her distracted without being suspicious, and if the twins hadn't managed to finish what they were doing or at least get out of sight by then, it was their own fault if they got caught.

McGonagall turned onto the staircase and headed down, her steps fading away. Sebastian was just thinking the twins must have managed to get out of sight when they appeared at the archway.

"Well, that was a close one."

"Cheers, Sebastian. Would have been awful if she'd ruined all our hard work."

"What were you doing, anyway?" he asked.

"Well," one of them said, "seeing as you helped us escape unnoticed, we'll just say that you should probably head outside to the carriages early tomorrow."

"There might just be an awful smell hanging around."

"Just in time for the morning rush."

Sebastian smiled. "Alright. I'm staying for the holidays though. You guys are too, right?" he said, remembering what Ron had said last week.

"Yeah, we're staying."

The twins shared a long look. And Sebastian had just enough time to worry about what Ron had been telling the twins about him when they smiled.

"We'll see you around, then," one of them said as the other patted him on the head as they passed.


	11. Chapter 11 - Holidays

The next morning rolled around, and Sebastian managed to convince Archie to bring his bag down to breakfast with them so they wouldn't have to return to the dorm later.

When the rest of the school went back to their common rooms to collect their things after breakfast, Archie and Sebastian made their way to the courtyard to wait for Matt and Edgar.

They were still there sitting on a bench when the rest of the school started to make their way outside.

The flow of students started as a slow trickle, and Sebastian could pinpoint the moment that whatever Fred and George had planned happened. The noise of excitement from students wanting to go home changed abruptly to shouts of panic as students tried to shove their way out of the entrance hall and into the fresh air.

Archie looked up, confused at the noise, as the first students rushed past, a faint waft of the foulest smell imaginable trailing behind them.

Archie grabbed his bag as they moved a few paces further away from the doors. It wasn't long before both Matt and Edgar came tumbling outside trying to escape the smell.

Archie and Sebastian were both laughing by the time the two of them joined them.

"Why don't either of you smell?" Edgar said, screwing his face up to try to stop himself from retching.

"We've been out here ages," Sebastian said as Archie looked at Matt.

"I am not looking forward to getting on the train with you," Archie said, laughing at his brother who was ineffectually wiping at his clothes as if he could rub the smell off himself.

Sebastian, meanwhile, was watching Edgar rifling through his bag. "Everything smells!" Edgar said as he shoved a jumper back inside.

Sebastian was still laughing at Edgar when Archie turned to him. "We're going to be off then."

Sebastian nodded. "Have a great holiday."

"We will," Matt said brightly, swinging his bag onto his back.

"You try to as well, okay?" Archie shot Sebastian one last look before he turned to Edgar. "You coming?"

Edgar shook his head. "I'm waiting for some of my friends."

Archie nodded and turned to walk away with Matt. Both of them waved before leaving the courtyard and disappearing from view.

"You promise you're alright staying by yourself?" Edgar asked once they had gone. "Because I could stay. It wouldn't-"

"I'm fine, Edgar." Sebastian cut him off. "Really, I'm looking forward to it."

Edgar watched him for a moment before shrugging. "Alright. I can tell when you're lying but alright."

Some of the first year Hufflepuffs had emerged from the doors and were calling over to Edgar.

"I should go," he said, fiddling with the strap of his bag.

"Merry Christmas, Edgar," Sebastian said, smiling.

"Merry Christmas, Seb."

Edgar hurried off to catch up with Ernie and Justin, sparing Sebastian a small wave before he, too, left the courtyard.

Sebastian sat back down on the bench, watching as the flow of students lessened, until the courtyard was still and the only sound he could make out was the slowly dwindling noise of the carriages rattling down the path away from the castle.

He spent the rest of the morning walking the grounds, the silence interrupted only once when the whistle from the train sounded its departure.

By the time he made it in for the start of lunch, he couldn't feel his toes, and a part of him wanted to take his boots off to check that someone hadn't vanished them without him realising.

He sat down at the Slytherin table, his back to a fireplace as he looked out over the Great Hall. He was pretty early, and only a few other students had arrived. Only the middle half of each table had been set, though he'd be surprised if that many students had stayed.

His hands had warmed up just enough for him to start scooping a warm soup into a bowl when he spotted a couple of Slytherins walking towards where he was sitting.

Sebastian recognised them at once. Adrian Pucey and Miles Bletchley were both third years and were both on the Quidditch team. He'd spoken to them a couple of times, mainly when Archie had dragged them into a debate about Quidditch in the common room, and was very relieved to see them. It would be nice to know someone else that was staying.

Both boys said hello as they sat down across from him.

"I didn't know you guys were staying. Your names weren't on Snape's list."

"We only signed up at the last minute. Had to get both our parents to agree to let us stay."

"Snape wasn't too pleased that we missed his deadline but-" Adrian shrugged, "we're here."

It turned out that both had decided to stay to get some flying practice in. Adrian had been promised a new broom for Christmas, and he wasn't able to fly much at home, so both boys had stayed, having gotten permission from Snape to practice whenever they wished.

...

The first couple of days of the holiday passed slowly. Sebastian spent meal times and evenings in the common room with Miles and Adrian, but the rest of the day he spent in the library or in his room practicing spells.

A few days into the holiday he was accosted in the library by the Weasley twins.

"You know, George, I don't think there's a worse way to spend the holiday than surrounded by books."

Sebastian wasn't sure how they had found him as he'd been sitting at the table in the back, but they had slid into the seats opposite him.

"Sitting there, all by yourself, reading books. It's tragic, truly."

"Almost offensive, actually."

"How can me being in the library be offensive?" Sebastian asked.

"You have this whole castle, full of opportunities, and you're here," George said.

"I thought I liked you," Fred said, picking up a book disdainfully. "Now I'm not so sure."

Sebastian closed the book he'd been reading. "What do you suggest?"

"You know, Fred," George said, sharing a conspiring look with his twin, "I think I'm feeling a bit peckish."

"Dinner's not for another few hours."

"We know," they both said at the same time.

"Follow us," Fred said, standing up.

"You have so much to learn."

Sebastian eyed the books on the table one last time before getting up and following the twins. He was almost certain that this was going to end in detention.

The twins led him down the back stairs by the library, passing behind a tapestry on the second floor into what appeared to be a solid wall. Down another corridor and onto the Grand Staircase.

"Where are we going?"

"Soon, little one."

Sebastian glared at Fred for that comment as he was steered towards the entrance to the basement.

"Are we going to the Hufflepuff Common Room?" Sebastian asked as they passed through the archway. As far as he was aware, there wasn't anything else down here.

"Better than that."

The three of them came to a stop by a portrait of a bowl of fruit. The twins shared wide smiles.

"It's lovely," Sebastian said into the silence. "Looks just like a bowl of fruit."

Fred reached forward and started stroking a pear.

The pear jiggled as if being tickled and then-

A doorknob appeared. It was the same light green as the pear had been a moment before.

Fred twisted the handle, and the portrait swung inwards, revealing a small passageway.

Fred had to crouch down to walk forward. Sebastian followed him with George closing the portrait behind them.

The passage opened up into a large hall. Four tables, set out just like the house tables in the Great hall, were the first thing Sebastian noticed.

"Welcome to the kitchens."

The room was huge. It was even larger than the Great Hall, though the ceiling was much lower. The sides of the room were full of stoves and ovens. He could just about spot the staff table at the far end of the room. House elves were running around everywhere preparing food. Sebastian was just thinking that there had to be hundreds of them when two hurried over to them and bowed.

Fred ordered hot chocolates and cookies as George dragged him over to the top of one of the house tables to sit.

"Are we under the Great Hall?"

"Yep."

"And you just come here whenever you want?"

"Yep."

The hot chocolate arrived, piled with marshmallows and steaming hot. Another elf pushed a plate of chocolate chip cookies onto the table between them.

"Thanks," Sebastian said to the elf as he picked a cookie up.

Fred and George were looking at him funny when he looked back to them. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Full of surprises, you are," Fred said.

"Me?" Sebastian said, laughing. "How long have you guys been coming down here?"

"Found it at the end of first year."

"We knew the kitchens were down here somewhere, but it took a while to figure out the entrance."

"We felt like right idiots when we realised all you had to do was tickle the pear."

Sebastian had to laugh at how normal George had made that sound, as if tickling a portrait was an expected behaviour. The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and playing cards as the house elves worked around them, refilling their goblets of cocoa and plate of cookies. (They were different every time. Sebastian's favourites were the chocolate and orange cookies, although the pumpkin and pecan ones were very nice as well.)

They were eventually kicked out very graciously and nervously by the house elves who had to set up the tables for dinner.

The next couple of days, Sebastian started to become paranoid about how Fred and George were able to find him anywhere in the castle. They'd snagged him on the way back from sending letters in the owlery twice, and the first time he went to go back to the library. It was as if they'd managed to set up some kind of tracking charm on him. He'd attempted a Finite Incantatum on himself, but they'd still managed to find him the next day as he sat outside the owlery with Ava.

"So spill it," Sebastian said as they sat down next to him. Ava puffed up her feathers at all the attention she was getting as the twins started to pet her. "How do you keep finding me? And why? Not that I don't enjoy your company or anything, but surely you have better things to do than spend your time with a first year Slytherin?"

"We stole our brother Percy's prefect badge again," George said, as Fred took the badge out to show him. "We needed to get out of the common room."

"And the last few days?"

"We really were offended you were in the library."

Sebastian laughed and shook his head. It was another few moments after Fred took Ava to pet her that George spoke again.

"It's tomorrow, right?"

Sebastian went still. He didn't have to ask what George was talking about. Though, that they knew was surprising. But then, they would have been in first year when it happened, so he supposed they would have heard all the gossip. It would have been pretty hard to miss when Astoria came back to school late with all her scars.

He got up from where he was sitting on the floor, leaving his arm out for Ava, who quickly leapt off Fred's arm to join him.

Today was Yule. Tonight was the longest night of the year. Midwinter. Two years ago tomorrow he had woken up in St Mongos knowing that his mother was dead and not knowing if his sister was too.

He walked over to the battlements to look out at the grounds. He could almost feel the looks Fred and George were sharing behind him. A silent conversation as they tried to work out what to say next.

Ava was sitting on his arm watching the sky, twitching her wings everytime she saw a bird fly past but not willing to take flight when he was so close to her. He lifted his arm out over the battlements and nudged her. Her large amber eyes finding his, as if asking permission, before she turned her head back to the air and took off.

He watched her get smaller and smaller in the sky, smiling sadly before turning back to the twins.

"I'd rather you didn't find me again," he said as he picked up his bag and left.

Fred and George stayed sitting on the cold ground.

"I thought we weren't going to mention it," Fred said.

"I wasn't going to. It just slipped out."

"Does this mean we have to leave him alone now?

George shrugged helplessly.

,,,

Sebastian spent the rest of the day safely locked in his dorm room. He had contemplated not going to dinner and just getting something from the kitchens, but he didn't want to risk running into the twins there. Plus, Miles and Adrian might notice if he didn't turn up.

He slipped into the seat across from the two third years and ate mechanically, pretending to listen to what they were saying before disappearing back to his room.

It was after midnight before Sebastian looked at the time again. He'd been sitting up absorbed in a book when he'd glanced sideways and immediately wished he hadn't.

Every year they'd spend midwinter night outside. The first time he hadn't was last year, but even then, he and Astoria had spent the night in front of the fire, sitting vigil and sharing stories until the sun rose.

He sighed, then got up and grabbed his cloak.

He was going outside. His mum would want him to. Sebastian was just wondering whether Astoria would be outside or whether she'd managed to pick up an extra shift at work as an excuse not to when he came to a stop in the common room.

The fires were lit, and a handful of students were still up sitting around it. They had plates of food around the open fire and were laughing at something.

Gemma Farley was sitting closest to the door, still in the group but off to the side too. She turned her head and noticed him.

"You can join us if you like?"

Some of the others were looking at him now, but he couldn't speak. It had been stupid of him not to think that other people would be up celebrating midwinter too.

He shook his head as she watched him. He had no inclination to socialise right now.

"I'm suppose to be on duty," she said quietly so that the others didn't hear. "Make sure no one tries to go outside for Yule. But, I don't think I saw you." She looked at him sternly. "So long as you are back at dawn. Just this once. Because I liked your sister, okay?"

He nodded, and she got up to sit closer to the others as he walked towards the exit.

"Why are you letting him out?" one of the seventh years asked.

"I'm not, I never saw him."

He could feel their eyes on his back as the passage closed behind him. The silence of the dungeon hallway was absolute.

There weren't any lights on the walls. All the torches had been extinguished, so he had to feel his way along the wall. Not wanting to risk lighting his wand incase another prefect was around.

He made it up to the entrance hall. Grateful that his time in a large, empty house had given him the gift of walking quietly. The silence at home had always seemed louder when it was broken, so he had learnt to step quietly. His footsteps didn't echo as he walked across the hall away from the main doors.

There was a smaller door at the end of the corridor. It would be easier to open without making a noise.

Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the door. Just a couple of steps away from getting outside.

Lift the latch, push the door. But he couldn't do it. His hands were sweaty, hanging limp by his sides.

He kept seeing them sitting outside together. They'd been having a picnic on the hill outside the wards to their house like they did every year. It was the best place to see the sun rise. The full moon above them had been bright enough by itself to illuminate them, but they'd made a ring of candles around them too.

The moon wouldn't be full tonight. Sebastian knew this, but it didn't stop his heart from pounding in his chest.

He couldn't open the door. He couldn't bring himself to go outside.

Only, he couldn't go back now. Not when they'd seen him leave. Couldn't face the questions, the whispers that he knew would follow him.

He wanted to run. Standing this close to the door, this close to being outside was suffocating. He needed to move.

He turned and ran. Up the stairs, not down. He couldn't go back down to the common room.

He sprinted up flights of stairs, his breath burning in his throat until he had to stop. The sound of his breathing echoed down the empty corridor as he tried to get it back under control.

Quiet. He had to be quiet.

He tried to focus on where he was to calm himself down.

He looked around, trying to recognise the corridor. The library was just down there. Fourth floor, then.

His heart was still thudding in his chest. Filch could be anywhere. He needed to get out of the corridor.

He went over to one of the old wooden doors that led off the hallway. The latch lifted easily as he slid inside. Closing the door carefully behind him, he slid down to the ground, head in his knees with his back against the door.

He sat there for a long time after his heartbeat had slowed and his breathing had quieted.

There were no sounds from outside the door.

He looked up, the moonlight shining through the windows, though he knew it was not full, was still bright enough to show him the outline of the room.

There was a low wall running the length of the room with a couple of steps down in the middle to what looked like a disused classroom. A whole stack of desks and chairs were piled up at the edges of the room and in the middle, directly opposite the steps, against the wall at the back, reflecting the moonlight, was a mirror.

It was huge, ornate, golden. It looked ancient.

Sebastian pushed himself up to his feet to get a better look.

The mirror was standing on two clawed feet, the top of it almost touching the ceiling. But right near the top Sebastian could just about make out writing. The inscription didn't look like English, but he couldn't tell for sure from this distance.

His curiosity got the better of him, and he moved quietly over to the steps, taking them quickly. All the time his eyes were focused on the lettering carved into the top of the mirror.

He mouthed the words, trying to make sense of them.

 _ **Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi**_.

Definitely not English. He was certain they weren't Latin either.

He cast his eyes down to look at the mirror itself and gasped, flinching violently. He took a step back.

The mirror wasn't only showing him his reflection. He was standing in front of his dead parents and Astoria. He didn't have to check behind him to know they weren't really there.

His heart stopped in his chest as he looked at Astoria.

If this mirror was showing him the dead then had she- no. He shook his head.

Astoria was fine. He knew she was. She had to be. He needed her to be.

He screwed his eyes shut. A million scenarios played through his head of where Astoria could be, what could have happened.

He forced himself to open them and look at the mirror again.

What was it?

He glanced back up at the inscription hoping it would explain itself, but it was still unreadable to him.

His eyes drifted back down.

His father standing there, tall, neat, his hair combed flat, his robes as if they'd just been pressed. His mother, Sebastian could almost feel her hand on his shoulder.

And Astoria, whole, healthy. The side of her head that had been shaved ever since that night was not marred by cursed scars.

It hurt just looking at the reflection. It was perfect, as if nothing had ever gone wrong.

He wanted to reach out and touch them, wanted to grab Astoria's hand, wanted to cling to his mother's side, a thousand apologies ready to spill from his lips for not doing more that night, for not trying to save her, for leaving her behind. And his father, those blue eyes were cool, cold even, but there was a small smile on his face, sad almost, that told Sebastian he wasn't angry.

He raised his hand slowly, shakily, hesitating a few inches from the surface of the mirror. He knew what he'd feel when he touched it, and he couldn't bring himself to do it. The cold, smooth surface stopping him from reaching them would be too much for him to bare.

His chest ached as he took a step back from the mirror, dropping his hand to his side.

The mirror was cursed, it had to be. Whoever had made it was evil. They'd made it to mock whoever looked into it. Entrance them somehow.

He took another step back.

It was nothing, just a trick, just a malicious, old mirror.

The back of his foot hit the first of the steps.

He should leave.

He knew he should, but he couldn't take his eyes from the mirror. He sat down heavily on the steps, immovable as he watched his family. Astoria seemed to be saying something to their mother, and the three of them laughed silently. The ache in Sebastian's chest deepened.

He sat there, holding himself in place until the first signs of the sun were visible in the mirror.

He was chilled to the bone. The stone steps he had been sitting on were freezing, and it took a while for him to straighten up.

He wiped at his eyes, trying to remove the tear tracks that had made their home on his face, and turned away from the mirror. He stepped haltingly over to the door, listening carefully to make sure the corridor was clear before opening it and stepping out.

He managed to get back to the common room without being caught. Gemma Farley was the only one still up, and she nodded to him as he made his way back to the dorm.

He slipped into his bed as soon as he got back, leaving the hangings around his bed open. The feeling of ghosts waiting just outside his sight haunting him as he fell into uneasy dreams that lasted all morning.

He woke up in time to catch lunch in the Great Hall before returning back to his room.

He kept himself separate from the others for the rest of the day, promising himself tomorrow would be better.

Tomorrow would be Christmas. There'd be presents and more food than he could eat. He fell asleep dreaming of stuffing his face and hoping the ghosts left him alone for the night.


	12. Chapter 12 - Christmas

Sebastian was woken the next day by a shout and a slamming door. It took a moment for him to remember what day it was as he emerged from the warm cocoon of sleep. He glanced down at the foot of his bed to see a pile of presents and smiled.

Christmas day had arrived.

He snatched a look at his clock as he quickly got dressed, it was late, (half the castle were probably awake already) then settled at the end of his bed to open his presents.

He was halfway through (so far he'd got lots of Honeydukes chocolate - his favourite, some books, homemade fudge and gingerbread cookies from the McKinnons which were as delicious as always, and a new pack of cards for exploding snap), when there was a knock at his door.

A moment later, Miles poked his head in.

"Oh, good you're up," he said. "Me and Adrian are going down to the Quidditch pitch. He's got a new broomstick for Christmas. You wanna come and use the spare?"

"Yes!" Sebastian said, displacing the presents from his lap as he got up.

"We'll meet you in the common room then." He went to leave then turned back. "Merry Christmas by the way."

"Merry Christmas," Sebastian said, grinning back as Miles left.

He made quick work of pulling on his boots and cloak, making sure to wrap up warm as he wasn't planning on coming back inside anytime soon.

The three of them spent a good couple of hours flying outside. Adrian's new broom was a Comet 260, leaving Sebastian with his old Cleansweep 6. Neither broom was as fast as the broomstick Sebastian had at home, but being in the air with Miles and Adrian, he found he couldn't care less. It was a better broom than he'd been flying in lessons, and both boys were great flyers. Sebastian could see why they were both on the house team.

Too soon it was time to head back inside. They had just enough time to have hot showers and get changed before heading up to Christmas lunch.

The tables in the Great Hall were covered in every food that you could imagine wanting on Christmas. Roast turkey, joints of ham, potatoes of every kind, steaming vegetables, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, three different kinds of stuffing, gravy, and every few feet, there were piles of crackers just waiting to be pulled.

At each of the house tables, the places had been set with no spares, forcing everyone to sit elbow to elbow with each other. He ended up between Miles and a fifth year called Charlotte Gibbons.

The crackers were being pulled at random times around the hall, and white mice, newly freed from their crackers, were scurrying everywhere trying to get away. Sebastian pulled a pirate's hat out of his cracker, and Miles, much to his dismay, pulled a floral bonnet from his. He ended up pulling three more crackers until he had a hat he was happy with and Charlotte swiped the floral bonnet for her own.

He briefly returned to his room after lunch to open the last of his presents before making his way to Miles and Adrian's room to play a promised game of exploding snap with the new set of cards that Sebastian had opened earlier. The cards had a special charm on them to disperse a magical dye on the smoke when they exploded, temporarily staining the hands of the players a bolder colour each time they lost.

Dinner was a casual affair, with students turning up in the Great Hall whenever they wanted to snag a couple of turkey and stuffing sandwiches before filling themselves up on more pudding.

By the time Sebastian went to bed, he was exhausted. Snape had been right, Christmas at Hogwarts wasn't half bad. The moment his head hit the pillow he was asleep.

He woke only a couple of hours later in a cold sweat. His nightmares didn't care it was christmas. They had returned.

He kept hearing his mother screaming at him to run, and every time he closed his eyes, he was back there on the hill outside the wards to his house. The neat circle of candles they'd been sitting in strewn haphazardly across the grass.

He sat up, knowing he wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon and his mind wandered straight back to the mirror on the fourth floor.

Maybe if he saw them again in the mirror —they looked so calm, so happy—the nightmares would go away.

He'd told himself he wouldn't go back, the mirror was cursed. But he'd only go back once more. Just to see them smiling, happy, whole. Just one last time.

He got dressed quickly, shrugging on his cloak before creeping out of his door.

The common room was silent this time. Everyone was asleep, hopefully the whole castle was. Too tired after a full day of festivities to bother wandering around after dark.

Unfortunately, the castle wasn't as quiet as Sebastian had hoped. Listening at every corner and ducking into shadowed alcoves got him most of the way, and only lucky timing kept him hidden from Peaves, who flew downwards just as Sebastian had come off the stairway. As soon as Sebastian could see his destination, he stopped.

The door was lying ajar.

He inched closer, his steps almost silent as he came to the door. He couldn't see anyone inside without nudging the door wider, and he knew he couldn't stay out in the corridor any longer, so he slipped inside, crouching down by the low wall. He shuffled forward till he was at the steps and, keeping low, poked his head around the edge.

It was a boy, with short blond hair, in his pajamas. It took a moment for Sebastian to recognise him as Neville Longbottom. He was standing only steps away from the mirror, fist clutching what looked like a blanket.

Sebastian wasn't sure if Neville had seen a movement or he'd just thought he heard something, but Sebastian had just enough time to hide back behind the low wall as Neville spun around.

"I-I saw you," Neville stuttered.

Sebastian wasn't sure why he did it. He was almost certain that he could have crept away without Neville being any the wiser, but he stood up. Standing at the top of the steps, facing Neville.

Neville took a step backwards, almost walking into the mirror behind him. Sebastian noticed he'd dropped the blanket he'd been holding.

"I-I'll f-fight you," Neville said, bringing his arms up in fists in front of him.

Sebastian had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "I didn't come here to fight."

"W-what are you doing here th-then?"

Sebastian gave him a long look before nodding his head to the mirror Neville was standing in front of. "Same as you, I expect."

And it was the same. Sebastian could guess what Neville saw: his parents whole and healthy as if they'd never been tortured. He knew Neville's parents were still in St Mongos. His mother had practically paid for the ward they were kept on when she'd been on the board of directors.

Neville glanced back to the mirror and was just about to say something when there was a bang as a door slammed in the corridor.

Both boys flinched, Sebastian ducking down where he stood.

There were voices in the hallway. They couldn't be more than a few paces from the door.

"...d-don't know why you wanted to m-meet at n-night, Severus."

That voice was obviously Quirrell.

"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private."

And that was Snape, but what startled Sebastian into motion was how much closer Snape sounded to the open door. All he'd have to do was glance inside, and he'd see Sebastian. Neville was still standing wide eyed by the mirror as Sebastian scurried under a desk that had been pushed up by the low wall against the far end of the room.

He couldn't hear much from over here, certainly not what was being said by Quirrell, but at least he wasn't out in the open anymore. Just as Neville made it to the shadow of the low wall to hide, clutching his blanket to his chest, Sebastian heard Snape's raised voice.

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

There was more mumbling that Sebastian couldn't hear, but his focus had turned to Neville.

Even hidden in the shadows as he was, it was obvious Neville was white and shaking.

Sebastian found himself wondering if Neville knew the names of the Death Eaters that had tortured his parents. Did he know that one of them was Sebastian's uncle? Was that why he'd reacted so badly when he'd seen Sebastian?

Sebastian flinched as the door to their room slammed shut. He heard Neville let out a frightened squeak, and everything was silent for a moment before the door opened again. The sound of slow, measured footsteps stopped just inside the door.

Sebastian shrunk back into the shadows, hoping that Snape hadn't heard Neville and that he wouldn't come in any further. But he had no such luck. Another few footsteps hit the stones as Snape walked into the room. Sebastian wasn't sure how he knew it was Snape. He just did, maybe it was the ominous silence. Quirrell would have at least been fidgeting.

He glanced back towards Neville. Or where Neville had been a moment before, but he was gone. Sebastian looked around, peering into the shadows, but he couldn't see Longbottom anywhere. Snape was still walking into the room. Any moment now he'd be standing on the steps, and all he'd have to do was look sideways and there he'd be. Cowering under a table. Sebastian heard Snape take the first step, and giving up all hope of him turning around, Sebastian got to his feet as confidently as he could. He wasn't going to be found cowering in the corner.

Snape spun, wand raised, body tense. Sebastian couldn't see his expression, but he saw Snape's outline relax, wand arm dropping a fraction as the professor spotted it was a student.

"Lumos."

He blinked rapidly as the light from Snape's wand illuminated the room. He couldn't stop himself from glancing around. Neville wasn't anywhere to be seen. He'd just disappeared. Snape must have caught him looking as he spared a glance at the rest of the room before looking back at him. Sebastian winced and looked away as Snape's gaze landed on him. He was furious; it was almost palpable. Sebastian could feel it flowing off of him in waves. He focused on a point over Snape's shoulder, raising his chin. He wasn't going to stand here and whimper apologies. He was a Fitzroy after all.

"What do you think you are doing out of bed?" Snape snarled. He hadn't moved from the foot of the steps, and Sebastian didn't say anything. "Do you think the rules don't apply to you? Perhaps you think you're above getting punished?"

Sebastian didn't move. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Snape's head turn towards the mirror then snap back sharply. Snape moved so he was out of the line of the mirror quickly, grabbing Sebastian's shoulder and dragging him up the steps and out of the room. Letting go briefly to close the door behind them before marching Sebastian back down to the dungeons in silence.

Surprisingly, they didn't encounter anyone on the way back down.

Snape steered him into his office, closing the door carefully behind him, before going to sit behind his desk. He put his wand down on the table, pinching the bridge of his nose.

The silence stretched.

Against his better judgement, Sebastian broke it. "Sir," Snape stiffened, "the mirror-" He paused, waiting for a reaction but none came. "What kind of curse is on it? I couldn't read the inscription."

Snape was watching him now. Sebastian felt as if Snape was looking for something. It felt like a long time before he spoke. "The artifact you stumbled upon is called the Mirror of Erised. It is suppose to show your heart's desire or some such other stupidity. Do you remember what I said when you signed up to stay for the holidays, Fitzroy?"

Sebastian tried to keep his face blank. "That Christmas at Hogwarts is pleasant?"

He was rewarded with a glare as Snape got to his feet. "I said that the holidays were not an excuse to break the rules. Are you stupid enough to be unaware that being out after curfew is against the rules, Fitzroy?"

"No, sir."

"You will have detention," Snape began, "every morning until the return of the rest of the school."

Sebastian's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to argue before thinking better if it.

"Perhaps a week's worth of detentions will make you think twice before ignoring instructions."

...

* * *

...

Snape, it turned out, was not going to let him off easy. The first couple of days that he had turned up for detention after breakfast, Snape had kept him until lunch time scrubbing out old cauldrons by hand. On the third day of the same treatment, Sebastian was thoroughly miserable, though at least he had managed to get through the last of the cauldrons. He shuddered to think what Snape had in store for him to do the next day.

He still wasn't sleeping well, nightmares that he'd thought he'd grown out of had resurfaced and to put him in an even worse mood. Everytime Sebastian got up to lunch at the Slytherin table he saw Miles and Adrian, who had been spending their mornings practicing out on the Qudditch pitch, the knowledge that he could have been out with them only made it worse.

After lunch he didn't want to go back to the dungeons, not even to the safety of his room. He'd spent way too much of his holiday stuck in the dungeons. He ended up wandering outside and spending the last couple of hours of sunlight sitting by the lake, slowly freezing. He was just thinking about returning to the relative warmth of the castle when the twins sat down on either side of him.

"You know, there are warmer places to sit," George said.

The both of them were wearing what looked like handmade jumpers with their initials on them under their cloaks.

"Oh, really?" Sebastian said tiredly, not looking at them.

There was silence, but the peace was broken only a moment later as the twins grabbed him by his arms and pulled him to his feet. His protests were ignored, and soon he was trying to stop himself from laughing as he was marched back to the castle, wedged between the two, and down to the kitchens.

Hot chocolate quickly improved both his mood and warmth, and when he returned to detention the next morning to find he was chopping up potions ingredients instead of scrubbing cauldrons, he felt as if the holidays might just be turning back in his favour.

...

The end of the holidays were approaching quickly. Sebastian's last detention with Snape would be tomorrow morning, and after spending hours in detention everyday doing boring and monotonous tasks, he was finally being allowed to brew a potion.

Snape had finished his detention by telling him he could brew any potion of his liking so long as he could finish it during the detention (the professor had made it perfectly clear that he'd be cleaning up anything that might go wrong). Sebastian had gone straight to his trunk after lunch to flick through his potions books. He found the perfect idea and spent the rest of the afternoon preparing all the ingredients in his potions kit.

He was going to make a potion that changed the drinker's hair colour. It had loads of ingredients so looked like a really difficult potion, but it was actually quite easy if all the ingredients were sorted before hand. He'd made it with Astoria last year, handing her all the ingredients (measured out and cut up as the instructions said) when she needed them. He'd definitely get it finished before lunch, unless something went wrong. And then all he needed to do was find a way of slipping it into something Fred and George drank.

When he arrived at the classroom Snape had been holding the detentions in the next morning, Snape was already sitting behind his desk at the front going through a pile of parchments. A cauldron had been set up at one of the desks, and Sebastian went straight across to it. Placing his bag carefully on the table, he began to get the ingredients out one by one. He still had a few ingredients to take out when he heard Snape's quill stop scratching. Sebastian glanced over to see Snape scrutinising him.

Sebastian took the last couple of ingredients out, followed by the potions book that the instructions were in and his list of timings he had written up the night before. He was waiting for Snape to ask him what he was making or at least say something, but Snape went back to his marking, his quill scratching out what Sebastian was sure were scything comments.

Sebastian took a deep breath as he glanced around taking a last inventory of everything on the table and making sure everything was ready. There wouldn't be any time once he started. Unlike most potions which had longer brewing times, most of the ingredients in this potion were to be added almost immediately after each other.

He poured the base of honey water into his cauldron and added the horned slugs to stew. Turning the heat up before adding the next ingredients. Every now and then he felt, more than saw, Snape's eyes on him, but he didn't look up. The potion could turn too quickly if he missed a step, and he really wanted to get this right.

He was almost at the end of the potion when he stopped to double check the optional ingredients list in his book. Different ingredients were to be added towards the end to make hair turn different colours, and he wanted to make sure he had picked the right ones before adding them.

He'd added some more honey water to buy him a couple of seconds as he scanned the page for what he was looking for.

 _Blue -_

 _Purple -_

 _Red -_

There. _Pink._

Sebastian let out a relieved breath that the ingredients he had prepared earlier were the correct ones. His fingers found the antimony, stirring it into the cauldron before sprinkling the final ingredient, two drops of bats blood, into the mix.

Sebastian lowered the heat on the cauldron. It was to brew for another five minutes on low heat before being ready to use, and Sebastian took the time to clear away the vials and small pots back into his potions kit. Making sure everything was packed away before he turned back to his cauldron.

He extinguished the fire and, waving his wand over it, said the incantation they had learnt earlier in the term to set the potion. If you didn't set a potion, then it would continue to change with heat and anything else it came in contact with. Considering he was planning to put it into the twins' drinks or something, it needed to be set well.

Sebastian put his wand back on the desk and reached into his bag to pull out a crystal vial as Snape got up from his desk to inspect the potion.

"Are you under the impression that I will be allowing you to use this concoction, Fitzroy?" Snape said, glancing at the vial Sebastian was holding.

"It's perfectly brewed, sir. There's nothing wrong with it."

Snape sneered. "You are in detention. You think I should allow you to benefit from this and cause further trouble?"

"Yes?" Sebastian had said it without thinking and silently cursed Archie for rubbing off on him.

Snape's lip twitched.

That had been to stop a smile, Sebastian was sure of it. He moved his arm, holding the vial slowly towards the cauldron. He knew he was pushing his luck, but he had really wanted to keep some of the potion.

Snape was watching him but didn't say anything as he dipped the vial into the cauldron. As soon as the vial was full, Sebastian pulled his arm back and closed the clasp.

Snape gave a wave of his wand, and the potion in the cauldron vanished. He turned on his heel back towards his desk. "That will be all, Fitzroy."

Sebastian grabbed his bag and headed out the door. He was in the Entrance Hall before he dared to look at the vial in his hand. Had Snape vanished all of the potion or just what had been in the cauldron?

He opened the palm of his hand.

A crystal vial full of an almost clear liquid sat there, a lilac shimmer just visible. A massive grin spread across his face, and he had to stop himself from skipping as he went into the Great Hall for lunch.

...

Fred and George found him after lunch, but he managed to make an excuse to get out of it and they planned to meet up the next day. The rest of the school would be returning in the evening, so it would be their last day off.

Sebastian got down to the kitchens early. The house elves made the three hot chocolates with just enough time spare for Sebastian to slip the potion into Fred's and George's goblets before the portrait swung open and the twins arrived.

He pulled his hot chocolate towards him, taking a sip as the twins sat down.

"You got here early," one of the twins said.

"I'm celebrating, no more detention."

"Well, here's to that," the other twin said, lifting his goblet in the air.

"Cheers!" Sebastian said, clinking goblets.

He let himself smile as he watched the twins drink. It would take a few minutes for the potion to start working. Hopefully the twins would have drunk a lot by the time they noticed.

They had made their way through a few hands of exploding snap and all three of them had nearly drained their drinks when Fred looked sideways at George and did a double take.

"What are you looking -" George stopped as he looked back at Fred, whose hair was also turning a slight shade of pink. "Your hair."

"Your hair!"

They both looked down at their reflections in their shiny goblets. The potion by now was in full swing, and their hair and eyebrows were now a bright, shocking pink.

"My hair!" They both shouted at the same time.

Sebastian couldn't help himself and broke out into laughter, drawing their attention. Both twins turned towards him.

"You!" Fred shouted.

Sebastian just had time to see the house elves nearest to them getting nervous at the commotion before he had to jump to his feet to avoid Fred lunging at him. Sebastian sprinted towards the portrait hole, somewhat hampered by his laughter which was making his legs feel weak. He could hear George laughing as he followed his brother in pursuit. Sebastian slid out into the Entrance Hall, swinging around the banisters of the Grand Staircase, heading towards the archway into the dungeons.

He'd just risked a look back to see how close the twins were on his tail and nearly cannoned straight into Snape. He only just managed to avoid what he was sure would have been another month's worth of detentions and came to a stop behind him in the passageway.

Snape hadn't moved, and Sebastian could hear the desperate squeak of Fred's and George's shoes on the slippy floor as they came to a stop mere feet from the scowling professor.

Sebastian risked a look around Snape at the twins.

"What," Snape said slowly, "do you think you are doing?"

No one spoke.

"Five points from Gryffindor for chasing a first year."

Sebastian's eyes widened as the twins complained.

"What?"

"But, sir-"

Snape cut off their protests. "Get out of my sight, or I will deduct more."

Sebastian watched as the twins backed off and walked away.

Snape stalked off towards the staff room, leaving Sebastian standing alone under the archway.

He was mildly surprised that Snape had completely ignored the fact that he had used the potion on the twins. Their bright pink hair couldn;t have gone unnoticed but he had chosen not to comment on it. Sebastian hoped the twins weren't too annoyed about the points Snape had taken, from the stories they'd shared it sounded as if it were a regular occurrence.

He was back in his room (the pack of cards they'd been playing with in the kitchens had been waiting for him on his bedside table when he had arrived) when he heard the commotion of the students arriving back.

Draco, Nott and Archie all came into the room within moments of each other to deposit their bags before they all headed up to the feast.

Nearly the whole school was seated at the house tables when the twins walked in through the double doors. Laughter rippled through the hall as they strutted down to their seats, their pink hair almost glowing it was so bright. Sebastian could see even Dumbledore at the staff table seemed to be smiling.

They seemed to be milking the attention, and even after they had sat down, the twins' pink hair stood out.

Sebastian couldn't help smiling as he tucked into the food in front of him. Even with over a week of detentions with Snape, it had still been a pretty good holiday.


	13. Chapter 13 - Why is everybody fighting?

"It's brilliant," Archie was saying between mouthfuls of food at dinner.

"What's brilliant?" Draco asked.

"Was I talking to you?"

"Archie," Sebastian said, trying to get him back on topic.

"Right. The book you gave me for Christmas. It's got loads of jinxes in," he added to Draco and the others listening in. "I tried some out on the train. I've been itching to use them since Christmas."

"The one you used on Hannah Abbott was hilarious," Rory said.

"I can't wait to try them all. I'm so glad we're back."

Archie hadn't been kidding about wanting to try them all. Over the next couple of days, he'd found loads of opportunities. The book _Jocular Jinxes for Mischief and Misfortune_ was almost permanently open when he was in the dorm, even Draco had taken to looking at it.

Archie found his favourite quickly: the Flagrante curse. And the rest of the Slytherins quickly learnt to check objects before picking them up or risk being burnt. Sebastian got caught out in class the next day. It had been his first opportunity to catch up with Edgar since the holidays had started, and he hadn't been paying much attention.

They'd started the term by practising the fire lighting charm. Flitwick had handed out candles and split them into pairs, and while Edgar had been dutifully practicing the charm, Sebastian had been using the time to ask him about his holiday. Flitwick was making his rounds, so Sebastian had gone to pick up his candle to practice and promptly dropped it again as his hand burned. Flitwick, of course, had thought it had been a miscontrolled fire lighting charm and had handed him some burn salve that he had ready for such an occasion and told him to keep trying before skipping away.

Archie's use of the curse got a bit out of hand, and after an incident where he'd had managed to curse Nott's pillow (Nott hadn't realised until after he'd put his face on it and had to go to Madam Pomfrey for burn salve), he'd moved on to less dangerous jinxes.

The weekend arrived quickly, Matt met him and Archie in the entrance hall on Sunday after breakfast.

"I was starting to think you weren't coming," Matt said when they reached him.

"I was enjoying the food. There's no rush, is there?"

Sebastian gave Archie another strange look. He'd been loitering at the Slytherin table, taking as long as possible to eat before he'd finally agreed to leave, and now he was acting short with Matt.

"No," Matt said with an annoyed look on his face before turning to Sebastian as they walked up the Grand Staircase. "Thank you for the new set of gobstones. They're great. Did you get the chocolate we sent?"

"I sent," Archie mumbled.

Sebastian ignored him. "Yeah, thanks. I think I'll still be eating it come summer though. There's loads."

He said goodbye to them when they reached the second floor. Sebastian watched as Archie trailed after his little brother, wondering what was up with Archie before making his way up to the library.

Hermione was already at their table when Sebastian arrived.

"I wasn't sure you were coming."

"Sorry, got held up. Lestrange was being weird."

"I don't understand why you're friends with him," Hermione said. "He's really mean."

"No, he's not."

"Did you hear about what he did to Hannah Abbott on the train? She hit her head really hard. She was crying, and he just stood there laughing."

"Merry Christmas by the way. Did you have a nice holiday? Mine was great, thanks."

Hermione stopped short of what she was about to say and blushed as she realised she was being rude.

"Sorry. I had a great holiday. Thank you for the book. I knew you'd find Flamel. Did you have to look for long?"

"No, it was an accident actually."

He'd been reading Hogwarts: A History over the Christmas holidays before the twins had removed him from the library, and there'd been a whole section on Nicolas Flamel. He'd sent Hermione a copy of the book for Christmas with the page marked.

"Now we know what Fluffy is guarding: the Philosophers Stone."

"Great," he said. "Why are we so interested in what Fluffy is guarding again?"

Hermione shrugged, changing the subject. "So, what have you been doing for Christmas?"

"Not much," he said. "I went flying, played some Snap, ate a lot of food." He rubbed his stomach, causing Hermione to laugh. "I got a detention-"

"For what?" Hermione interrupted, mouth open in shock.

"You don't know?" Sebastian asked. "I assumed Neville would have told you. Which reminds me, how does someone disappear into thin air?"

Hermione's eyes widened, and she quickly looked down at her book, avoiding his gaze. "That's impossible."

"It's not actually," Sebastian said. "There are multiple ways someone could do it. They could use a disillusionment charm. They could apparate-"

"You can't apparate inside Hogwarts."

"No, but I never said anything about Hogwarts." He let that hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "You know what I'm talking about then. Neville disappeared, or he'd have been serving detention with me for wandering around after curfew. So how did he do it?"

"I don't know."

He watched her. It was pretty obvious she was hiding something, but he decided not to push. Not yet anyway. "Okay," he said simply instead.

"He never mentioned he saw you."

"I bet he didn't mention the mirror either then, did he?"

"What mirror?"

Sebastian watched her for a moment then smiled. "I don't know," he said, mimicking her, much to her annoyance.

...

January slipped wetly into February, and the students found themselves spending all of their free time locked inside the dry walls of the castle, retreating back to common rooms during break and lunchtimes. Sebastian, Matt, Archie and Edgar used the opportunity to meet up in their unused classroom on the second floor, neglecting homework until the last minute in favour of practicing spells.

Sebastian and Archie arrived first on Friday after their double potions lesson with the Gryffindors and had already started practicing by the time Edgar and Matt turned up.

As Edgar closed the door behind them, Sebastian took the opportunity to cast a jelly legs jinx on him. Edgar wobbled for a few seconds before his legs gave out completely and acquainted him with the floor. Sebastian didn't have much time to laugh before the favour was quickly returned by Archie, who used the distraction to do the same to Sebastian. It took quite a while for either boy to be able to counter the jinx as none of them could stop laughing for long enough to say the incantation.

They eventually managed to get back up and returned to practicing. But after that everything went wrong very quickly.

Matt had thrown a harmless sneezing jinx at Archie, which Archie switched focus to block just as Sebastian, who had been dueling with Archie, threw another weak stunner at him.

Archie had been blocking them easily before, but he hadn't had time to cast another shield charm, and it hit him square in the chest.

He went down immediately. Unconscious as he hit the floor.

Sebastian swore as he rushed over to crouch beside his friend. Both Edgar and Matt had stopped, and the room was silent.

"What did you hit him with?" Matt asked. Sebastian could hear the obvious panic in his tone.

"It was just a stunner."

Sebastian tried to use the counter curse. He'd seen Astoria do it when she and Augustus had taught him stunners during the summer, but he'd never done it himself.

He shook his head. "It's not working."

"Why were you even using a stunner?" Matt said, his voice rising another notch. His wand was hanging limp in his hand, and he looked lost.

"Here, let me try." Edgar came forward and knelt down next to Archie. He'd become the groups unofficial healer. He couldn't do anything really complicated, but he was the best at healing any small cuts or stubborn jinxes that they couldn't shake on their own. "My parents always said it was a tricky counter curse."

"This is stupid. You're not suppose to be using dangerous curses." Matt was pacing now, his eyes flicking up to land on his unconscious brother's form every couple of seconds.

Edgar wasn't having much luck with the counter curse either.

Sebastian got to his feet and tried to put as much calm into his voice as he could. "Stop pacing, Matt. You're distracting Edgar. Everything's fine."

"Oh, I'm sorry you're not concerned with his well-being, but in case you forgot, he's _my_ brother."

Sebastian was starting to get annoyed at his tone. "Matt -"

"It's no use," Edgar said, bringing their attention back to him. "I can't do it."

"You can't do it?"

"Sorry," Edgar said, glancing at Matt who had momentarily stopped all movement.

Matt looked up from Archie to Edgar. "What are you even doing here if you can't do it?"

"Oi!" Sebastian shouted, turning on Matt. "That's enough."

"What? Why do you even bring him if he can't help?"

Matt looked away from Sebastian's furious expression, focusing back on Archie.

"How are we getting him to the hospital wing?" Matt asked after another moment.

"We aren't."

"What?"

"You heard me," Sebastian said. "We'll all get in trouble if we do. He's fine, he'll wake up in a bit."

"He is unconscious," Matt said slowly. "You hit him with a stunner."

"Stunners wear off," Edgar said, trying to reassure him. "All magic is temporary, remember?"

"I wasn't talking to you, was I?" Matt snapped.

Sebastian, who had just been placing a rolled up cloak under Archie's head, straightened up and turned to Matt.

"You don't talk to him like that."

"It's fine, Seb," Edgar said quietly from behind him.

"No, it's not," he said before turning to Matt. "You're upset, I get it, but he's fine. So stop overreacting."

"I'm going to get Madam Pomfrey."

"No, you're _not_."

Matt folded his arms across his chest in defiance, but he stayed where he was. Not daring to leave. Sebastian shook his head and sat down on the floor across from Edgar, pulling his bag towards him. Preparing to wait it out.

"I'm not doing this anymore," Matt said quietly as he sat down at a desk. "It's dangerous and stupid."

Sebastian ignored him as he pulled out his Herbology book to reread the chapter they'd be covering in their next lesson.

It only took a few more minutes until Archie started to stir, much to Sebastian's relief. The minutes had been counting down, and he was starting to wonder if Archie would wake up before the next lesson.

"He's waking up," Edgar told Matt, who pushed past Edgar, shoving him out of the way so he could sit beside Archie.

Edgar picked up his bag and stood awkwardly at the edge of the room, watching the three of them.

It only took a few seconds for Archie to come around completely.

"Are you okay?" Sebastian asked from beside him.

"Yeah, how long was I out?"

"Not long," Sebastian said, double checking he was okay before he stood up. "You've got a few minutes before we have to get down to Herbology. I'm going to walk Edgar to his next lesson."

Matt was helping Archie back to his feet as Edgar followed Sebastian out of the room.

...

Matt and Archie both got down to Greenhouse One for their Herbology lesson early but Professor Sprout was already there, ushering the students into the relative warmth of the greenhouses. "Two or three to a table like always. Come on in. Get your hands warmed up," she said as they passed her. "Two or three to a table."

The greenhouse was full of work benches in the middle of the room, ready for the students to use. The benches around the edges were over stuffed with plants of all shapes and sizes, which were clamouring over each other to get the best space and light.

Archie and Matt both moved to the back of the room to the workbench that the three of them normally used.

There were more students arriving as break time ended. Archie waved over to Sebastian, who had just entered with Draco, but instead of making his way over to Archie and Matt, Sebastian went to stand at a workbench with Draco near the front of the room.

Archie dropped his arm, confusion written on his face. He looked over at Matt to see his reaction, but his brother was reaching into his bag to get out their textbook, 100 Magical Herbs and Fungi, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened. Archie looked over to Sebastian again. He wasn't looking their way, but Draco was. Their eyes met, a smirk playing across Draco's features. He was obviously enjoying whatever spat was going on between them. Draco turned away from Archie to continue his conversation with Sebastian.

"What-" But Archie's question was cut off as Professor Sprout closed the greenhouse doors and got the class' attention.

"You will be repotting Puffapod bulbs today. Now, you should all be familiar with them as they are one of the plants we covered in the classroom this week."

Herbology was four lessons a week, three of which were practicals held in Greenhouse One for first years. The other was held in a classroom on the ground floor of the castle, where they covered any of the theory they would need to know. "If you turn to page 268 in your textbooks," Sprout continued, "it will have the exact ratio of dragon dung, mooncalf dung and compost that you will need. We don't want any mistakes now."

She did a quick demonstration at the front of the greenhouse before letting them loose. All the supplies they needed were underneath the work benches apart from the Puffapod bulbs themselves that Sprout was handing out at the front.

Matt was just about to go forward to get theirs when Archie grabbed his arm. "I'll get them." Archie retrieved a handful of them and moved to walk back past Sebastian's table so they could talk, but just as he was nearing it, Draco shouldered into him, causing him to almost drop the bulbs.

"Careful!" Professor Sprout shouted. "Back to your table now, come on." She kept an eye on him, and he had no choice but to follow her instructions.

"I'm going to punch him," Archie said quietly when he got back to Matt.

"Who?"

"Malfoy." Archie checked that Sprout was occupied before dumping the puffapods unceremoniously onto the table and turning to Matt. "So what did I miss?"

"I was just looking up the-"

"Not that." Archie swatted Matt's hands away from the book on the table. "What happened when I was out?"

"Oh." Matt shrugged. "Nothing."

"Nothing," Archie repeated as he bent down to pick up a couple of flower pots from underneath their bench, dropping them heavily onto the table. "So why is Sebastian working over there with Malfoy instead of with us?"

Matt shrugged again as he started shoveling small amounts of compost into his flower pot from the bags on the table.

Archie held in an annoyed sigh as he tried again. "Something must have happened, Matt?"

Archie watched Matt as he concentrated on putting the right amount of each type of soil in his pot. It took another moment before Matt spoke. "I just said I didn't want to do it anymore. The practice, you know?" he said quietly. "He just overreacted."

"That's all?"

"Yeah, you know what he's like sometimes. He always wants everyone to follow his lead."

Archie frowned, glancing over at Sebastian, who was laughing at something Draco said.

"Can we concentrate on this?" Matt asked, pulling Archie's focus back. "We have loads to pot, and you haven't even started."

He nodded, copying what Matt had just done. He filled the pots one after the other so that Matt could carefully place the bulbs in, roots down.

When the end of the lesson neared, he packed up quickly, shoving his textbook back into his bag, not bothering to spare the time to wipe the dirt off of it. He wanted to catch up to Sebastian, but just as they were filing out, Professor Sprout called him back.

"I expect full concentration in my lessons." She was saying as Archie's concentration was on Sebastian walking up to the castle. Sebastian disappeared through the double doors, and Archie focused back on what Professor Sprout was saying. "I know planting Puffapods is not the most taxing of tasks, but we will be handling more dangerous plants soon, and I must be sure you are paying attention. Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to bar you from the greenhouses." Her voice softened as she continued. "You're normally very good at Herbology, Arcturus. Is there something the matter?"

"No."

She pursed her lips together. "Very well then, I expect better next lesson."

"Yes, Professor."

He slipped out of the greenhouses. The grey day had got darker, and it had started to spit. He wasn't in the mood to be wet and late for his next lesson, so he jogged up to the castle. He arrived outside their Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom just in time, his mood getting worse when he saw Sebastian sitting next to Edgar in their usual seats but the space next to Sebastian that Archie normally sat in had been taken by Draco. He sat grumpily in the back of the lesson, not even bothering to try to pay attention to Quirell's stuttering voice as he asked them to copy down notes about how to heal werewolf bites.

When the lesson finally ended, he waited by the door. Draco had headed off with the other Slytherins. So it was just Sebastian and Edgar.

"Hey, Seb," Archie said, interrupting whatever conversation the two of them were having.

"Oh, hey, Archie," Sebastian said, turning back to Edgar.

Archie grabbed his arm to pull him back. "Can we talk?"

"What?"

"Alone?" Archie said, shooting a glance at Edgar who was waiting by Sebastian's side.

"I'm going down to lunch," Edgar said quickly before Sebastian could protest. "I'll see you in charms."

Edgar walked away down the quickly emptying corridor.

Sebastian glared at Archie.

"What?" he said.

"What Matt said, he didn't mean it. He was just upset. Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?"

"No, I don't actually."

"I'll talk to him, okay?"

"Fine."

Archie was quickly losing his temper. "This isn't my fault. Why have you been taking it out on me?"

"I haven't."

"Why was Malfoy sitting in my seat then? I get you're annoyed with Matt, but it's not my fault he overreacted. He's not the only one overreacting either."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "First of all, _you_ disappeared. I was saving you a seat, but the lesson was starting and Draco sat down. And, you know what?" Sebastian's voice was rising now too. "Maybe I had other things on my mind in that lesson than where you'd disappeared to. And I'm _not_ overreacting. But if you think what Matt said is okay, then maybe I should be pissed at you too."

They stood in a tense silence before Archie spoke again. "Okay," he said quietly. "I'm definitely missing something."

Sebastian relaxed slightly as the tension drained from Archie's face.

"This isn't about him not wanting to practice anymore, is it?" Archie asked.

"That's what he told you?"

Archie shrugged. "That's what he said to me in Herbology when I asked why you were working with Malfoy. That you were annoyed he wasn't-" Archie paused, not wanting to repeat exactly what Matt had said. "That he didn't want to practice anymore. That's not what happened?"

"No," Sebastian said. "He did say that, but he said some other stuff too."

"Like?"

"He had a go at Edgar when we couldn't wake you up. Said the only reason Edgar was there was to fix things, and if he couldn't, then he should leave."

Archie winced. "He didn't tell me that bit."

"Which would be why I was angry at you just now when you told Edgar to go away too."

"I didn't tell him to-" Archie sighed. "Sorry, I didn't know."

Sebastian nodded and started walking, leaving Archie standing alone in the corridor.

"I said I'm sorry," Archie called after him.

Sebastian turned round, still walking backwards towards the staircase at the end of the hall. "I dunno about you, but I'm hungry," he said, smiling. "Lunch?"

Archie gave a relieved laugh and jogged to catch up.

...

By the time they'd gotten to the Great Hall for lunch, Matt was nowhere to be seen. The last two lessons of the day were both shared with Hufflepuff, so it wasn't until dinner that evening that Archie finally managed to corner Matt to talk to him. Sebastian was very glad he didn't have to be around for that conversation and returned to the common room by himself.

Draco came in a while later and sat down beside him, laughing about how he'd used the leg locker curse from Archie's book on Neville. Sebastian forgot all about Archie and Matt as Draco's impression of Neville hoping around made everyone laugh.

Archie didn't reappear until they were back in the dorm getting ready for bed. He was in such an obvious fowl mood that even Draco didn't say anything when he slammed the door behind himself. The lights were turned off, and both Nott and Draco had gotten into bed and closed their hangings when Sebastian sat down on the edge of Archie's bed, slipping easily between the hangings he had left haphazardly open as usual.

"Didn't go well then?" Sebastian asked, keeping his voice low.

Archie grunted. He was lying on his front on top of his covers where he'd been since he flung himself there when he'd first come back.

There was barely any light to see by, and Sebastian felt the bed moving before he saw Archie turn around and sit up against the head of the bed.

"I don't get why he lied to me."

They sat in silence.

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Okay," Sebastian said. "There's Qudditch tomorrow remember."

"I hope we thrash them."

Sebastian chuckled. It was Slytherin vs Ravenclaw tomorrow. He climbed back into his own bed and heard Archie get up to get changed into his pajamas, but he was asleep before he could think anything else.

...

Draco woke Sebastian up the next morning just as he and Nott were leaving the dorm. Once they'd gone, Sebastian shook Archie awake, and they got ready quickly and joined Draco at the Slytherin table.

The atmosphere was buzzing. After the performance, or lack of performance, that Ravenclaw had put in against Hufflepuff last time out, Slytherin were expected to win easily, and everyone was looking forward to the match. The whole table was swathed in green and silver. There wasn't a student there that wasn't wearing a hat or scarf in Slytherin colours.

They'd need the extra warmth. The ceiling of the Great Hall showed a clear, bright sky, but it was still bitterly cold outside. He walked down to the Quidditch pitch between Archie and Draco, who were talking about the match. It seemed the only thing they could hold a conversation about without arguing was Quidditch.

He could make out Fred and George, their hair now back to the normal red, running in between the streams of students, calling out to each other, but he couldn't make out what they were doing.

"Their team this year is pathetic. We'll win by at least a hundred points," Draco was saying.

"I don't think so," Sebastian said.

"No, I suppose you think we'll lose?"

"Of course not. I'm just not planning on it taking long enough to score a hundred points."

Draco laughed. "Good point."

"Higgs will catch the snitch before we even get comfortable."

"No, he won't," Archie said. "We're behind Hufflepuff in the standings. We need as big a win as possible."

He was close enough now to hear Fred and George and realised they were taking bets for the match, shouting out scenarios and prices and scribbling them down in a little book.

They were just turning towards a stand further down the path when Fred accosted them.

"Fancy a flutter on the match?" he said, throwing his arms over Sebastian's and Archie's shoulders.

"Sure," Sebastian said, smiling, "three galleons on Slytherin winning."

"What do you take us for? Idiots?" Fred said, mockingly offended as his brother joined him.

"We're not taking bets on Slytherin winning," George said.

"Everyone knows Slytherin are going to win."

"Guess you aren't as stupid as you look then," Archie muttered, glancing curiously between Sebastian and the twins.

"We have," George consulted his book, which Sebastian could now see was little more than a wad of folded papers, "Slytherin winning by more than 200 points, 4/1. Or if you don't want to be adventurous, Slytherin catching the snitch, 2/1."

"6/1 on someone getting hit on the head with a bludger is always a good one," Fred interrupted.

"200 points," Archie said to Sebastian. "We're going to trash them."

"Excellent," George said, flipping to the right page. "How much?"

"Three galleons, right?" Fred asked Archie.

"No," Sebastian said. "I'm not putting three galleons on us winning by two hundred points."

"Fine, put it on us catching the snitch then. But I'm telling you, we are going to thrash them."

"How about you put three on that," Fred said to Sebastian, "and you put something on-"

"Lestrange doesn't have access to his vault." Draco sneered. "He's more broke than you are."

Draco was standing off to the side. He had been as soon as Fred and George turned up, not wanting to be associated with them, and he'd obviously gotten bored of waiting. Archie surprisingly didn't say anything. He just stood there glaring over at Draco.

"Three galleons on us catching the snitch then," Sebastian said to George. He probably shouldn't put that much on a bet like that, but he just wanted to get out of there. He'd had enough of arguments lately.

"Right." George nodded, scribbling it down with a pencil stub.

"Let's go get some seats."

Fred and George disappeared back into the crowd as the three of them started walking again. Draco led them to where he had sent Crabbe and Goyle to save them front row seats. By the time they sat down, the stadium was full, and the match was almost ready to start.

Archie sat between Rory and Sebastian with Draco on Sebastian's other side next to Crabbe and Goyle.

"Welcome to Ravenclaw vs Slytherin!" Lee Jordan's voice boomed over the stands.

It became apparent very quickly that three-quarters of the stadium were supporting Ravenclaw. And the stadium rung with boos as the Slytherin team walked out on to the pitch. It was no surprise. Slytherin were never the most popular house, but having won the Quidditch cup seven years in a row, the whole school had even more incentive to see anyone else lift the trophy this year.

"And we're off!"

Madam Hooch threw the quaffle in the air, and Slytherin swooped in first. Their first shot at the hoops was blocked, but as soon as the Ravenclaw keeper passed it out to one of his chasers, Flint barged into him, causing him to drop the quaffle. There was a roar of disapproval from the stands, but no foul was given. Pucey, who had picked up the quaffle, was now bearing down on Ethan O'Neill.

The whole section around them were on their feet.

"Come on, Pucey!" Sebastian shouted.

Pucey fainted to the side. O'Neill dived too early, swinging to the left as Pucey threw the quaffle to the hoop on the other side.

The cheer that went up around Sebastian was deafening. The roar barely had any time to abate before Slytherin scored again. This time it was Warrington who slotted home.

"Higgs isn't even looking for the snitch," Archie shouted over the noise. "Look!"

Sebastian followed Archie's arm and found the Slytherin seeker. He was hovering above the rest of the game on the half way line. His full concentration was on the Ravenclaw seeker, not bothering to search the pitch for the golden snitch.

"Why?"

The quaffle flew through the Ravenclaw hoops once again.

"Hufflepuff."

"What?" Sebastian shouted.

Archie had to wait until the cheering calmed down to repeat what he had been about to say.

"I told you. They want to overtake Hufflepuff in the championship. He won't want to catch the snitch until we're at least 100 points up."

"That's a bit risky, isn't it?" Sebastian asked, looking around at Draco, who had been leaning in to listen to their conversation.

It was an extremely risky strategy which nearly ended in disaster. Slytherin were 80 points up with no reply when the Ravenclaw seeker spotted the snitch by the goalposts. Higgs was nowhere near close enough to challenge him, and only a very well placed bludger from Bole averted the disaster. Campbell had to bank hard at the last moment to avoid a bludger to the head, causing him to lose track of the snitch that had almost been clasped in his hand.

From then on Higgs stuck closer to his counterpart, but while Slytherin were still tallying up the points, the snitch was nowhere to be seen.

Slytherin were now 220 points to 10, a lone goal sneaking past Bletchley from Ravenclaw's captain. It was obvious that Higgs was actively looking for the snitch and had been for a while. He'd left Campbell and was circling high above the game.

Sebastian's attention was drawn back to the quaffle as Warrington and Flint sandwiched Harriet Toke, ripping the quaffle from her grasp. Warrington was speeding towards the hoops, fainting both ways, but O'Neill was staying with him this time, not letting him get a free shot at any of the hoops.

He was almost upon the hoops and swerved off to the right. O'Neill went with him, blocking the way, but at the last moment, Warrington passed backwards to Adrian Pucey. The other two hoops were wide open, and it was a simple task to slot it through the centre hoop from a few yards out.

The Ravenclaw team looked downcast. Byrne was still shouting, trying to get her team back in place to defend, but they were slumped low on their broomsticks. They finally got back into position when there was a ruckus from the crowd. Campbell had spotted the snitch. It was closer to where Higgs was, but in the moment, it took him to spot it Choudhuri had gotten a bludger off to block his dive.

Higgs reset himself and dove again, flat against his broomstick, trying desperately to get down to where the snitch was zooming around near the ground, but the Ravenclaw seeker was now following only inches behind the snitch's trail.

Campbell's gloved hand closed tightly around the golden snitch. Three-quarters of the crowd erupted in cheers as he went spinning into the air to celebrate with his teammates.

Slytherin had won 240 points to 160, but it felt like a loss. It wasn't enough to move above Hufflepuff, who would play Gryffindor in two weeks' time.

The match had gone on such a long time that they'd missed lunch altogether. They retreated back to their common room, munching on whatever snacks they had in their rooms. When dinner time came around, Sebastian slipped the three galleons he owed the Weasley twins into his pocket and headed up to the Great Hall.

He had assumed the twins would be hanging around in the entrance hall collecting on their bets, but they were no where to be seen. He forgot about it until he was halfway through his meal. He had his back to the rest of the Great Hall so didn't see them approach but turned when he heard the commotion.

"What do you want?"

"Get back to your own table."

Fred and George were walking down the aisle between the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables to where Sebastian was. Sebastian reached into his pocket and held up the three galleons when they reached him.

"Ah, so good to see."

"Not used to seeing money, are you?" Draco sneered.

One of the twins took the offered coins and very obviously dropped each of them into a money pouch, the coins clinking clearly as they hit others.

"Fancy placing a bet on the next match?" the other twin asked Sebastian.

He laughed and shook his head as they walked away, stopping momentarily by various people at the Hufflepuff table on their way.

"Making friends with blood-traitors now, are we?" Draco said loud enough that the Slytherins around them could hear. "I thought you had better standards than that, Fitzroy."

"The twins are alright," Sebastian said, not even sparing Draco a glance as he dished up more potatoes.

"Their whole family are good for nothing blood traitors-"

"I'm not making friends with their whole family, am I?" Sebastian interrupted, trying to pretend he wasn't aware of how the people around them were listening in. "They're purebloods," he said clearly. "And, until they do something to show otherwise, I say they're alright."

He saw Archie nudge Rory to get him to start eating again, and the table slowly started to carry on with their own conversations.

Archie skipped away just before dinner was over, leaving Sebastian to walk back to the common room with Draco, Blaise and Rory. He appeared in the common room moments later with no mention of where he'd been.

...

The next morning was a novel experience. Archie, who was normally the last to wake, woke Sebastian up. It took a moment of confusion before he realised that Archie was already dressed. Sebastian looked over to Draco, who raised his eyebrow in question. He shrugged and got up, dressing quickly and grabbing his bag. The four of them headed to breakfast together, which almost never happened over the weekend. Draco and Nott were nearly always gone by the time Archie woke up.

After Archie had bitten into his third piece of toast, Sebastian finally asked him what was going on.

"What do you mean?" Archie asked.

"Why are we up early?"

"We're not that early," Archie said, gesturing to the nearly full hall.

Sebastian tried again, but Archie refused to be drawn on the subject. Only saying that it was a sunny day before munching cheerfully on another piece of toast.

Archie got up as soon as Sebastian had finished his food, and they left the turned left towards the large double doors that would take them out onto the grounds. Sebastian stopped.

"Archie, where are-"

"We're going outside. It's been raining for ages; I'm not staying inside today."

"But Gobstones-"

"Hey!" Sebastian was interrupted as Edgar came jogging over to them.

Archie smiled. "Let's go."

"Wait." Sebastian frowned.

"What's wrong?" Edgar asked, looking over at Archie. "Are we not going outside anymore?"

Sebastian looked between the two of them then nodded deciding not to get involved with whatever was going on. He followed them out the doors onto the grounds. It was a lovely day.

They stretched out on the grassy area down by the lake. Sebastian realised where Archie had disappeared to the night before. He'd planned to get up early and meet Edgar, skipping gobstones club in the process.

The sun was lovely and warm on Sebastian's back and getting warmer as the morning wore on. He was lying on his front, chewing on the end of a quill.

They had a small mass of parchments in the centre of the three of them. Sebastian's finished potions essay, Edgar's finished magic theory questions and Archie's finished charms summary along with lists of the other homework assignments they hadn't done yet.

"Pixies are the ones with wings, right?" he asked no one in particular.

"Yeah," Edgar said, not looking up from where he was sitting cross-legged, hunched over his potions essay.

"No," Archie said.

"What?" Sebastian sighed, scribbling out yet another line.

"I mean they do have wings."

"Archie!"

"Why are you writing about pixies?"

"The defence homework." Sebastian sighed as he looked at the mess on his parchment. "Difference between pixies and imps."

No one spoke, and Sebastian looked up. Both Edgar and Archie were staring at him.

"What?"

"Doxies and imps," Archie said, trying desperately not to laugh.

"Seb, we haven't covered pixies."

Sebastian's face fell as he looked between them then back down at the parchment he'd been writing on for the last half an hour. He'd been helping Edgar write his potions essay while trying to remember his defence notes off the top of his head, and somewhere along the way, he'd mixed up the assignment.

Archie had had enough and broke out laughing. "We don't even cover pixies this year."

Sebastian groaned and put his head on the grass.

"Switch," Archie said after he'd calmed down. "You do astronomy, and I'll do defence. I really don't want to copy whatever you've been making up."

Sebastian nodded, grabbing Archie's astronomy book and handing Archie his work.

He was getting a new roll of parchment out when Archie picked up his wand.

"Incendio."

The parchment Sebastian had been working on, full of crossed out lines, caught fire.

"Oi!"

"I'm practicing charms. It's all this is good for!" Archie said as the three of them collapsed into laughter.

Edgar and Sebastian were still laughing when Archie stopped suddenly. He was looking back towards the castle. All sign of the fun they were having was replaced by a stoney look that Sebastian was glad he wasn't on the receiving end of.

"What?" Sebastian asked, craning his head back over his shoulder to look.

Matt was walking down the lawns towards them.

Sebastian looked back at Archie as Edgar spoke. "Seb, I said it's fine." It was barely more than a whisper. "I'm sure he didn't mean it, don't you think-"

"This isn't me," he said quickly. Whatever was going on between the two brothers was not his doing.

Archie was studiously looking at his defence homework as Matt walked up to them. Sebastian and Edgar shared a look before both pretended to get on with their work too.

"You didn't come to gobstones," Matt said as he came to a stop beside where Archie was lounging. He was fiddling with his bag strap nervously. "I waited for you."

Archie shrugged, looking at him for the first time. "Seb asked for help with his defence homework."

Sebastian's eyes widened. He looked up, catching Archie's eye before Archie quickly looked away. He glanced over at Edgar to see if he'd heard but Edgar just looked down at his work.

The silence dragged.

"You can join us, if you like?" Sebastian said after a while. He was still looking at Archie, who looked up quickly, shaking his head ever so slightly as Matt looked over at Sebastian. If Archie was going to act like this was his doing rather than leaving him out of it then he was going to make it better.

Edgar coughed lightly as no one moved.

"What happened there?" Matt asked, pointing to the still smoldering piece of parchment.

"Pixies," Archie said, causing Sebastian to chuckle.

Matt was still standing tentatively at the side of the group as they all smiled at the joke he didn't understand.

Archie sighed, not looking up from his parchment. "Either sit down or go away. Stop hovering."

Matt sat down carefully next to Archie, crossing his legs and putting his bag in his lap.

"Right," Edgar said. "I think this is done. Six inches, maybe a little more. Read it for me?" he asked Sebastian.

Sebastian put his hand out to take it without looking up as he filled in the last couple of stars on the constellations they'd been asked to draw out.

"I'm done too." The parchment rolled up as he stopped leaning on it, and he threw it over to Edgar.

Sebastian read through Edgar's potion work while Edgar drew out the constellations and labels that Sebastian had done, copying them neatly onto his own parchment.

"All fine," Sebastian said. "Have we missed any?"

"History of Magic," Edgar said.

"Ugh, no. I'm not doing that."

"You don't take notes in that class," Archie said. "How would you do it?"

"I do take notes!" He paused, then added, "I take some notes."

They laughed. Even Matt, who was still sitting awkwardly at the side, smiled.

"I'll do it," Edgar said as he finished with the astronomy and reached for his bag to find his notes.

"You're the one who doesn't take notes in History of Magic," Sebastian said to Archie.

Archie stuck his tongue out at him before going back to his work. Sebastian turned around to lie on his back to rest. The sun was high in the sky, and he had to put his hand over his eyes to block it out.

"I haven't done History of Magic yet either," Matt said, getting a piece of parchment out.

"Have you got your notes with you?" Edgar asked. "I think I mixed up Uric the Evil with Egbert the Oddball when I was writing them down."

"Yeah." Matt rummaged in his bag.

"It's... Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball."

Sebastian turned his head sideways to see Edgar screwing up his face. "Who's Egbert then?"

"I don't know," Matt said as he leafed through his notes. "Oh, no, here it is. Egbert the Egregious. He's the one that killed Emeric in a duel."

"What does egregious mean?" Sebastian asked, looking back up at the sky.

"It means bad."

Sebastian rolled over to his front to look at Edgar. "Bad," he repeated.

"Shockingly bad," Matt said. They both looked over towards him. "I looked it up last time I was in the library."

"Right, Egbert the Shockingly Bad." Sebastian reached forward and picked up Edgar's Magic Theory homework to copy.

He saw Matt scowl, but Matt didn't say anything. He just went back to his notes.

"Done!" Archie exclaimed a few minutes later. "The differences between doxies and imps."

He threw it into the pile in the middle.

"Is it lunch time yet?" he said as he stretched his arms back.

"I don't think so," Matt said. "I only just came from gobstones."

Archie gave no sign he had heard him other than a sigh as he reached into the pile of homework.

"What one are you copying, Seb?"

"Magic theory."

"So, we just need the History of Magic, and we can copy each other's later, yeah?"

"Transfiguration," Edgar said.

"You're fine with Transfiguration, right, Edgar?" Sebastian asked.

"Hmm? Yeah, just you haven't done it yet."

"We can do that later," Archie said. "It won't take Seb long."

Sebastian could see Matt's frown increasing as the conversation went on.

Archie scooted over to Edgar's side, so he could copy from his notes rather than Matt's."Why do we bother doing History of Magic homework?" he asked. "Binns doesn't even check."

"You won't pass if you don't take notes or do the homework," Matt said.

Archie didn't look up. Sebastian shared a grimace with Edgar before looking over at Matt.

"We are doing the homework, Matt."

"Some of it," Matt said quietly.

Archie got up abruptly.

"I'm hungry, lunch must be up by now. We can drop our stuff back in our room." He knelt down, stuffing his Astronomy and Defence textbooks back in his bag and picking up his Charms and Defence work from the pile. "Come on, Seb."

"I'm not finished with this-" But Archie was now picking up Sebastian's bag.

"Alright, alright." He quickly finished the sentence he was on, giving Edgar back his Magic Theory homework and scooping up his Astronomy diagram and Potions essay.

Archie was up and walking away by the time Sebastian was on his feet.

"See you later, Edgar." He shot a sorry over to Matt, who was looking pretty downcast, before catching up with Archie.

While Archie and Sebastian were making their way back to the dorm to drop off their stuff, Hermione was sitting at an empty table in the back of the library.

Sebastian hadn't showed. She had assumed he was just running late, so she'd gotten on with some work, but now she was finished, and as she checked her watch and realised it was nearly time for lunch, she decided he wasn't coming. She packed her books up and went to find Neville and Ron, so they could go down to lunch together.

Sebastian managed to switch his copy of Archie's Defence homework for Edgar's History of Magic later that day, and having spent the afternoon messing around in the common room, they quickly copied everything out whilst sitting on the floor between their beds as Draco and Nott got ready for bed.


	14. Chapter 14 - The Duel

The next couple of weeks were difficult to navigate. Archie was still off with Matt. Sebastian and Edgar both ended up trying to act as if nothing was wrong. They only met up on the second floor twice, and both times were spent doing homework, and the only spells they practiced were spells they'd been learning in class.

Sebastian had to keep using Augustus as an excuse to meet up with Hermione during the week, as Archie was still refusing to go back to gobstones club. It was pretty easy to do as he had been meeting up with Augustus quite frequently.

But the Sunday after the next Qudditch match (Hufflepuff had ended up beating Gryffindor which gave Hufflepuff an even greater lead in the championship), Sebastian had had enough.

He tricked Archie into going up to the second floor with him. But instead of going to their empty classroom to practice he'd dragged him into the room used for gobstones club.

Matt's eyes lit up when he saw the two of them walk in. Sebastian handed Archie his gobstones set, which Sebastian had stolen out of Archie's trunk the night before, and shoved him further into the room.

Archie sat down grumpily at first, knowing he couldn't leave now that Matt had seen them, but was soon laughing as Matt once again beat Sebastian, who was now thoroughly covered in goop from his gobstones. Sebastian moved out of the way for Archie, who said he could at least put up a better fight than Sebastian. By the end of the morning all three of them were covered in multi-coloured goo, and any trace of tension about their previous fight had disappeared. Sebastian just hoped it would stay that way. An older year came around to vanish the stains from their robes as they packed up and went down for lunch.

...

* * *

...

As they got deeper into March, Sebastian saw less and less of Augustus. His NEWTs were fast approaching, and he was swamped with homework and revision. Even the first years weren't being spared by the teachers for their upcoming end of year exams.

Hermione was always in the library now, but she nearly always had Weasley and Longbottom with her, sitting at one of the tables in the main part of the library.

As the days went by, Matt and Edgar spent less time with Sebastian and Archie, keeping their heads down in their dorms studying. And almost all the time they had when they did meet up on the second floor was dedicated to practicing for their exams.

The Easter holidays arrived, and unlike Christmas, nearly everyone stayed at school. They'd made a few forays outside to blow off steam in the nice weather, but with the amount of homework and revision they had, they spent most of their time off studying.

Edgar was spending most of the time helping Sebastian practice charms. While he could do the basic spells, he had the most trouble achieving specific results. He could levitate an object, but when he tried to do anything else with it, like make it spin, he'd lose control. He could carry out a slicing charm exactly where he wanted to cut his parchment, but if he wanted to cut something other than a straight line, it wouldn't work. After one particular session when Edgar had told him he was being too precise, he'd given up.

It was no wonder that, by the time the Easter holidays were over and they were back in lessons, Archie had had enough too.

"I'm going to use this one next," Archie said, shoving _Jocular Jinxes_ in front of Sebastian one evening in their dorm. Sebastian took the book. It was open on a page with a large picture of a leaking cauldron. "In potions tomorrow," Archie was saying.

Sebastian looked up from the page. "Are you mad? Snape will kill you if you do this in his lesson."

"Well, I can't do it outside his lesson, can I?" he said, taking the book back. "Turning a cauldron into a sieve only works if there's a cauldron around."

"Pick another spell," Sebastian tried. "Snape will -"

"Snape won't care!" Archie interrupted. "You saw how he reacted when I used the tripping jinx on that Patel girl last week. It was obvious I'd done it, but he still docked her points for falling over."

"That," Sebastian said, "wasn't in his classroom during a practical lesson."

"So?" Archie asked. "I'll do it to one of the Gryffindors."

"Archie-"

But at that moment Draco and Nott walked into the room, and Archie got up to put the book away, ending the conversation.

When they arrived at their double potions lesson the next day, the classroom was arranged in a different set up than normal. Whenever they brewed a potion, they would be in pairs, working together on one cauldron. But today there was a cauldron in front of each space.

Snape swept them inside.

"Your end of year exam in my class will include a potion brewed by each of you. There will be no opportunity to leech off of your less dunderheaded classmates." He paused, his eyes boring into a few of the Gryffindors.

"Today, in preparation, you will each be brewing the Antidote to Common Poisons. The instructions are on the board as well as in your books. I will also expect eight inches on the use and procurement of each ingredient used in the potion by the end of the lesson."

The class groaned as they started setting up their work spaces. Sebastian joined them. It seemed pretty unfair to make them write an essay while brewing a potion.

"Where are we even supposed to write an essay?" Archie whispered, gesturing at the cauldrons and ingredients taking up almost every inch of desk space.

They ended up writing them on the seat of their chairs, sitting on the ground. Some others were desperately trying to balance a piece of parchment on their knees while others had cluttered their desks trying to find enough space to write a few lines. These last ones changed their minds quickly after—halfway through the class - Crabbe managed to spill some of his potion on his work and had to start again.

Luckily, the potion had a half hour resting stage before they had to add more ingredients, and while they still had to keep checking and stirring if the potion went off colour, they just about managed to scribble down enough information on the ingredients listed.

Archie was still scribbling a last line when Sebastian got up to check their potions.

"You need to stir yours," he whispered to Archie as he bent down to pick up his ink pot. "Now."

Archie's potion was slowly going a darker pink colour rather than the light shimmer it needed to be. Archie jumped up quickly, managing to get the colour back to where it was meant to be before they had to start adding the next lot of ingredients.

The rest of the lesson was a lot more relaxed. Now that they'd gotten the essay out of the way, they could focus on their potions. They'd nearly made it to the end of the lesson when there was a shout on the Gryffindor side of the room. Sebastian looked up from his potion just in time to see Archie drop his wand back on the table.

The cauldron that Danny Coote was working at was pouring pink, boiling liquid from its sides.

Danny had instinctively reached for his cauldron to try to plug the holes with his hands. His forearms had been covered with boiling liquid, and he'd stumbled back from his table, almost crashing into the cauldrons behind him.

A couple of the Gryffindor girls screamed as he knocked into their table, making their cauldrons wobble.

Snape was there in moments, a wave of his wand vanishing not just the potion from Cootes cauldron but from Seamus', who had been working beside him, and the girls behind.

"Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape said into the silence that had formed now the danger had passed.

The Gryffindors erupted into protest. "But, sir!"

"That's not fair!"

"Enough," Snape said, "or I will dock more. "

"It was Lestrange's fault!" Ron shouted. "I saw him. He pointed his wand at Danny's cauldron."

Archie went still beside Sebastian as the class turned to look at him, but Snape didn't look away from Ron.

"Another ten points from Gryffindor," he said, ignoring Ron's outburst. He turned back to the four students with empty cauldrons. "And since the four of you were unable to hand in a sample of the completed potion, I will be expecting another eight inch essay. This time on the dangers and safety around brewing a potion. It seems you need the revision."

"I told you," Archie whispered to Sebastian, shooting him a triumphant smile.

"Sir," Hermione said, her voice shaking slightly as she stepped forward. "Danny needs to go to Madam Pomfrey."

Sebastian looked back to where Danny was sitting. He had his arms held close to his chest. The sleeves of his robes had been rolled up while he was working on his potion, and even in the dimness and on the other side of the classroom, Sebastian could see how red and blistered his arms were. Coote wasn't paying any attention to what was going on around him. His jaw was tightly closed, and he was staring hard at the floor. It was obvious he was doing all he could to keep from crying from the pain.

"Very well. As you volunteered to take him-" Snape vanished Hermione's potion from her cauldron too. "I will expect an essay from you too. Now get out. I think Coote has disrupted this class enough for one day."

Hermione helped Coote get out of his chair and ushered him out of the room.

"You have ten minutes to finish your potions and get me a sample." Snape swept back to his desk and sat down, watching as the class got back to work.

Draco leaned over to them, bumping Archie on the shoulder. "Good one, Lestrange."

"He looked pretty hurt," Sebastian said quietly once Draco had gone back to his potion.

"He wasn't meant to. What kind of idiot grabs a boiling cauldron?" But Archie didn't look too happy anymore, and Sebastian could imagine what he was thinking. Archie kept glancing over to where Coote had been sitting.

When Archie came back to their desk after dropping their potions at the front, he had a frown on his face.

"What's wrong?" Sebastian asked.

"Snape told me to stay after class," Archie said. "This is the part where you say I told you so."

Sebastian didn't say anything as he finished packing up. The class was dismissed, and Sebastian waited outside for Archie.

"Well?" Sebastian asked when Archie finally came out.

"Detention, tomorrow after lunch. He said I'd be staying until I finished."

"Finished what?" Sebastian asked as they made their way upstairs to the entrance hall. Whatever Snape had been saying had taken up most of their break time.

"I dunno, he didn't say."

With the amount of time Snape had been talking to Archie he must have said something, but Sebastian decided not to push.

...

* * *

...

Sebastian sat down in charms after lunch in his usual seat next to Edgar. The seat next to Archie that was usually taken by Rory was empty.

Sebastian looked behind him. Blaise, who sat next to Draco in charms, was also missing. "Draco, where-" Sebastian whispered.

"I don't know where they are," he replied before Sebastian finished the question.

Flitwick had just started talking when the door opened and Blaise slipped in.

"Ah, latecomers, I see."

"I have a note," Blaise said as he went to the front where Flitwick was standing on his perch of books.

Flitwick glanced at the note, nodding. "Very well, take a seat. You haven't missed anything yet."

Flitwick started to talk about their upcoming exams, but the side of the class where they were sitting wasn't listening much. Sebastian had turned to listen to what Blaise was saying to Draco. Archie, who sat in front of Sebastian, was also straining to hear.

"What happened?"

"Where's Rory?"

"He's in the hospital wing. One of the Gryffindors hit him with a hex. He's spent the last half hour throwing up. Said it was revenge for what happened in potions."

Sebastian and Archie shared a look.

"Gentlemen!" They all turned forward as Flitwick eyed them. "Your friend is in excellent hands. Now please, concentrate."

Once he was sure they were all paying attention to him, he carried on, "As I was saying, these last couple of weeks leading up to the exams will be a recap of all the spells we have learnt so far this year. You may practice whichever you need to."

He started handing out supplies to the desks nearest him. "Please pass them along."

"What happened in potions?" Edgar asked as he picked a feather from the bunch and handed them back.

Sebastian looked over at Archie again then back to Edgar, who was now eyeing the both of them. Archie looked away from Edgar, unwilling to meet his eyes. He faced forward to pick up a candle from the items that had been handed out and began practicing.

"Seb?" Edgar said, drawing his attention back.

"Coote got hurt."

"Danny? Is he okay?"

Sebastian winced. Edgar had been friends with Danny since they'd met on the train.

"His arms got burnt by a potion." Sebastian shrugged. "I'm sure he's okay by now."

Sebastian pointed his wand at the feather, trying to make it flap in the air.

"You're getting better at that," Edgar said after a moment.

"I've had a lot of practice," Sebastian said, smiling, glad that Edgar had dropped the subject.

The day went from bad to worse as Blaise showed up late for dinner. He'd been caught by McGonagall hexing Seamus Finnegan for what he'd done to Rory.

"Detention tomorrow," he said as he sat down. "It was worth it though."

The tension between the two houses was rising, and Sebastian was more than glad that it was the weekend. Having to share a classroom the next day probably wouldn't have ended well.

The next day was sunny, and Archie convinced Edgar and Matt to go with them outside. Archie had banned them from bringing books with the promise that he'd spend all day Sunday doing homework if he had to but he was going to enjoy the sun. They'd given in pretty quickly. Even Matt who had practically had his head buried in books the last few weeks didn't put up much of a fight. And, a few minutes into playing bludger, all four of them were breathlessly laughing as they tried to not get caught by whoever was the bludger.

Lunch time came too quickly, but they were all exhausted and in need of food. Archie was still smiling when he left for detention. Sebastian went with Draco to the library after lunch. Dropping their stuff at a table, they both went off in search of books in the stacks.

Sebastian was just browsing through the Herbology section when Draco came scrambling ground the corner. He grabbed onto Sebastian's arm and dragged him to the end of the row.

"What-?"

"Shhh!" Draco was leaning close to the books, his ear almost pressed to a gap. Sebastian could vaguely hear a conversation on the other side of the shelves, and curiosity got the better of him. After glancing around to make sure no one was watching, he listened in.

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life?"

Sebastian recognised the voice, and a quick look through one of the gaps in the books confirmed it.

"He couldn't have wanted a cat or a toad like a normal person," Ron was saying. "But, oh no, let's take a dangerous monster as a pet!"

"Shhh," Hermione said. "It'll be over by tomorrow anyway."

"We'll get in trouble if we're caught out of bed." That was Neville.

"It'll be a lot less trouble than Hagrid'll be in. They're illegal. He could go to Azkaban!"

"It's too late now. We've already written to Charlie." Hermione paused. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, Neville. I'm sure me and Ron could -" She trailed off.

"I- it's okay," Neville said. "I want to help, he doesn't deserve to go t-there."

"I dunno, mate. It's a pretty stupid thing to do."

"No." Neville's voice was stronger now. "He shouldn't have to go there. Nan says its horrible. He might have to share a cell-"

"No one wants him to get in trouble, Neville," Hermione said softly. "It'll be over by tonight."

Draco jumped back as one of them put a book on the shelf. The trio's voices retreated.

Draco's eyes were gleaming when Sebastian turned to look at him. "We're going to follow them," he said. "Tonight."

"We'll get in trouble if we're caught too. Just tell Snape or Filch."

"No, they got out of it last time. I'm going to make sure." Draco started walking back to their table. "We'll follow them, and once we know what they're helping that oaf Hagrid to hide, we'll find a teacher and get them caught red-handed. They'll be expelled. They have to be."

"You can find the teacher then," Sebastian said. "I've already been caught out of bed."

"What?" Draco said, turning to him. "When?"

"Over the holidays. Snape gave me a week's worth of detentions."

"Fine, I'll get the teacher, and you can keep an eye on them."

Sebastian was hoping Draco would forget about it by that evening, either that or Archie would get back from his detention early and stop them. But curfew came and went, and Archie still wasn't back.

Sebastian was sitting in the common room with Draco pretending to do some homework while the common room emptied. It was gone eleven when the last few Slytherins left for bed and they finally got up. Draco had been fidgeting and glancing around for ages, and Sebastian was glad they could finally leave. He didn't want to get caught, but his curiosity was peaked. He wanted to know what creature Hagrid was hiding.

He and Draco slipped out of the common room into the dark passageway. They made their way carefully up to the archway that led to the entrance hall. Crouching in the shadows, they looked around. They could hear Peeves cackling as he threw a bouncy ball against one of the walls, his form coming into their view as he swooped around to catch it.

They were only there a few minutes when Peeves missed a catch. The small rubber ball bounced high then bounded across the floor and straight through the archway Draco and Sebastian were hiding behind. Sebastian could see the pink and yellow swirls on the ball clearly as it passed between the two of them.

His eyes locked with Draco's, and they held their breath, waiting for Peeves to appear.

The seconds ticked by, and Sebastian inched closer to the opening, daring to peek his head around the corner to see where Peeves was.

He was gone.

"He must have gotten bored," Draco said in a whisper. He had inched forward too, and both of them were looking out at the entrance hall. "Look!"

Draco pointed towards the doors. Two figures were creeping towards them. One had red hair that was obvious even through the darkness of the hall; the other's bushy brown hair identified her too. Opening the door slightly, Ron slipped through the crack while Hermione paused, glancing around as if waiting for something then following, leaving the door slightly ajar.

"Come on," Draco said.

The two of them sprinted across the entrance hall. They came to a stop at the doors so that Draco could peer through to make sure the coast was clear.

Sebastian's heart was beating a lot faster than it should have for such a short sprint. He looked around, hoping Peeves stayed away for just a little longer. Draco gave the all clear, tugging at Sebastian's sleeve as he slipped through the door and out into the night.

It was dark outside, but there was enough light from the moon to see where they were going as they made their way down the steps and onto the lawn. Draco came to a stop behind a standing stone. Beyond it they had a clear view down the slope to Hagrid's hut. Its small windows shining brightly through the darkness.

"Where did Longbottom come from?" Draco said, drawing Sebastian's attention to the three figures making their way down to Hagrid's hut.

They watched as the door opened, the flickering light of a fire spilling out and illuminating them briefly in its warm light before the door closed and the darkness swallowed them.

Sebastian shivered as he sat back on the grassy slope to wait.

"We could go down and look," Draco said. "They might be there for ages."

"They might-"

"Shhh!" Draco said. The door had opened again, and Hagrid lumbered out carrying a crate that he put carefully on the ground. Ron and Neville both took a side of the crate and lifted it. Even from their distance, they could see it was a struggle.

Sebastian grabbed Draco's arm. "Come on, they're coming this way. We have to get back inside."

Draco seemed to struggle before nodding and following Sebastian up to the castle. They slipped through the doors after checking for Peeves and waited. Sebastian looked around, thinking of the best place to hide. "We should get up to the first floor, Draco."

"Wait."

"Or we could go for Snape. We know where they are." Even as Sebastian said it, he knew that it wasn't going to happen. He wanted to see what was in the crate just as much as Draco did.

Draco didn't answer him. His concentration was on what was happening outside. Sebastian felt like they were standing there for hours when Draco finally turned to tell him they were nearly there. The two of them took off across the entrance hall and up the Grand Staircase. They'd just made it around the corner on the first floor when the door in the entrance hall opened wider.

Hermione crept in, checking all of the dark corners before holding the door open for the others. They stopped and put the crate down. Hermione took one side of the crate, and Ron picked up the other as they moved towards the stairs. Sebastian and Draco walked further down the corridor, hurrying into an unlocked classroom by another set of stairs to watch.

They kept silent as the Gryffindors passed, catching their first glance of the crate up close as it was carried up the stairs. It was completely enclosed. They didn't have any hope of seeing what creature was hidden inside.

"We should get a teacher," Sebastian said.

"Go on then," Draco replied as he crept back out into the hallway to follow them, Sebastian on his tail.

"You said you were going to do it!" Sebastian hissed.

"What was that?" Hermione's voice carried clearly down the staircase.

"C'mon, we're nearly at the tower," Ron said. "Let's get rid of this bloody dragon."

Draco's eyes lit up, and they listened until the footsteps above resumed before hurrying up after them. They made it up to the fifth floor landing, but the others had gone.

"Hurry up," Draco said just as a horrible thought crossed Sebastian's mind.

"Draco wait-"

But Draco was already out in the hallway. Sebastian wasn't even aware he'd gotten his wand out to follow him when everything started happening very quickly.

He caught sight of Ron, Hermione and Neville standing in an alcove. They'd been waiting to see if they'd been followed.

Ron had his wand raised, and Sebastian had just enough time to wonder about the crate having disappeared when he crashed into Draco, knocking him out of the way of the spell Ron had just thrown. He silently thanked Archie for always turning physical whenever he was about to lose a duel as he scrambled up to his feet.

"Everte statum!" Draco shouted from where he was on the ground. The spell connected, and Ron was thrown backwards against the corner of the alcove. His back connected to the wall as his wand went spinning away down the corridor behind him.

"Pertrificus Totalus." Hermione's voice was high pitched as she tried to hit Draco. But Sebastian was faster. Months of practicing paid off as he blocked the spell.

His eyes connected with Hermione's. He only had a moment to register the fear he saw there when he got hit with the very familiar feel of a stinging hex. He spun, aiming at Neville. "Stupefy!"

He saw Neville's body hit the floor. Ron shouted Neville's name just as Draco shouted, "Locomotor Mortis!"

Hermione toppled backwards into the alcove she was still standing in front of as her legs snapped together. She seemed to hit something very solid, though there was nothing there, before falling sideways.

Ron had reached his wand by now. He charged forward, shouting something that was obscured as it echoed off the walls. Draco dived to the side to avoid the red jet of light.

"Stupefy!" Sebastian aimed directly at Ron, who was unable to move out of the way. It was about to hit him square on the chest-

"Protego!" another voice cried from down the corridor.

McGonagall was hurrying forward, her tartan green dressing gown fluttering behind her and Filch following at her side. Another wave of her wand and all four of their wands scattered out of their grips and across the stone floor.

There was silence in the corridor.

Draco scrambled to his feet, straightening his robes, as McGonagall took a look around at all of them, the look in her eyes telling them all they needed to know about how much trouble they were in before heading towards Neville's prone form.

Sebastian could feel Draco trying to catch his eye, but he was staring at his wand. His fingers felt twitchy knowing it wasn't in his reach. He edged forward about to bend to pick it up off the floor when a gust of wind hit him. He stumbled backwards.

McGonagall was looking at him. She picked up Neville's wand from the ground beside the waking boy, and with another wave of her wand, the rest of them shot over to her. Sebastian could only watch as she picked up their wands.

She straightened. "Follow me."

"P-professor?" Hermione squeaked. She had struggled into a sitting position, but her legs were still bound in the leg locker curse.

"Finite."

Hermione scrambled to her feet as Ron helped Neville lumber to his.

The five of them followed McGonagall in silence as she walked to her office. Sebastian felt a chill run up his spine as he looked back at Filch. He was walking behind the group, smiling as if he'd just gotten everything he'd ever wished for. They filed into McGonagall's office. She closed the door with a snap behind them and walked around to her desk. Filch took up position next to the door as the five of them shuffled around.

"How dare you?" Her voice was sharp, each word clipped as if each were a weapon. "Explain yourselves!"

Silence hung in the room until Draco spoke.

"They were out of bed, professor. We were just going to come and get a teacher," he said.

"And why were you out of bed, Mr Malfoy?"

"We over heard them talking earlier, Professor. They had a dragon, in a crate. It-"

Sebastian winced, wishing Draco hadn't brought that up.

"And where is this dragon?" McGonagall asked, her eyes narrowing.

Neville and Hermione both had their heads bowed, but Ron answered. "He's just making things up! He's trying to get us in trouble-"

"I can assure you, Mr Weasley. You very much _are_ in trouble."

Draco was smiling now.

"There is absolutely no reason to be walking the school halls at night, let alone dueling in the corridors." She paused, taking a deep breath. "I am disgusted. Never have I heard of such a thing. Five students out of bed and fighting in the corridors. I would have expected more from you, Miss Granger. And you-" She turned her eyes on Sebastian. "I think you need to think long and hard about whose footsteps you wish to follow in."

Sebastian felt as if he'd been slapped in the face. McGonagall continued talking as she turned back to look at the others, but it was all Sebastian could do to keep his head up and face neutral as he stared at the window behind her. It was obvious who McGonagall was referring to: his father or his uncle. He was in no doubt which one he'd reminded her of tonight.

Sebastian should have been expecting it. After all, he'd been worrying about it at the start of term, but McGonagall bringing it up in the middle of a conversation had caught him off guard.

"Detention to all five of you. And seeing as this is not the first time you," she said again, zeroing in on Sebastian, "have been caught out of bed. Fifty points."

Ron snorted, quickly trying to cover it up by coughing, but McGonagall's eyes found his immediately. "Fifty points from each of you. Perhaps that will be enough to discourage any more night time wanderings if detention does not."

"But, professor," Ron stuttered, "you can't-"

"Do not tell me what I can and can't do!" Ron shut up quickly.

McGonagall took a deep breath.

"Mr Filch. Please escort these two straight back down to their dormitory. I will be speaking to Professor Snape in the morning." She cast one last look at Sebastian. "Do not let me catch you using such dangerous spells in these halls again, or the punishment will be most severe."

Sebastian and Draco followed Filch out the door. It was a long, silent walk back down to the dungeons that was made longer when Draco refused to say the password in front of Filch. Filch eventually left (mumbling under his breath), and they were able to get into the common room. The wall had barely closed behind them when Archie was there, shoving Sebastian hard in the chest.

"Where have you been?"

"I'm not in the mood," Sebastian said, pushing past him.

"What've you done?" Sebastian assumed that Archie had aimed that at Draco and ignored the bickering that started up, leaving them both behind him as he went to the dorm.

He was already in bed with the lights off when he heard Draco and Archie come back in. Nott was already asleep, and neither of them said anything as they got into their beds.

It was a long time later, and Sebastian was still staring at the canopy above his bed when the hangings moved. Archie crawled onto the end of his bed, sitting cross legged as he pulled the hangings closed again.

"What's wrong?" Archie asked as he lit his wand.

"Nothing's wrong," Sebastian said, though he supposed he wasn't doing a very good job of pretending. He'd gone back to staring at the canopy and not looking at Archie.

"Right, that's why you're not asleep."

"Why are _you_ not asleep?"

"You keep sighing," Archie said. "It's annoying."

Sebastian looked over at Archie with a bemused look on his face. "You can sleep through anything, Archie." He paused before adding, "And I wasn't sighing."

Archie just shrugged. "What happened?"

Sebastian sighed before he could stop himself. Archie snorted.

"Shut up," Sebastian said, trying to hide his grin as he kicked at Archie.

They sat in silence, Archie spinning his wand in his hand. The light at the tip dancing around the hangings.

"McGonagall caught us dueling with Longbottom and Weasley."

The spinning stopped.

Sebastian braced himself for whatever comment Archie was going to make about Draco, but either he'd said all he had to say directly to Draco or Archie could tell Sebastian didn't want to have that argument again because all he said was, "What's the damage?"

"A detention. And fifty points."

Archie sucked in a breath of air.

"Fifty points each."

"That's a bit over the top, isn't it?"

"My fault. She said I'd already been caught out of bed and detention obviously wasn't enough of a punishment."

"And?"

"What?"

"You're not saying something." Archie said, watching him carefully. "Gryffindor lost as many points as we did, and there's no way you're this upset about a detention."

"She said something about Uncle Hydrus."

"And there it is."

"You're so smug sometimes, you know that, Archie?"

"Hey, I'm allowed to be. I'm Arcturus _Lestrange,_ remember _?"_

Sebastian didn't miss the slight emphasis Archie put on his surname. A gentle reminder that they were both in the same boat as far as family legacies went.

"Yeah," Sebastian said, smiling sadly. "What time is it?"

"Way too early to be awake. I'm going to sleep, so stop with the sighing. _Nox_."

They were suddenly plunged back into darkness. Archie pulled back the hanging and slipped back out. Sebastian could see the room was starting to be bathed in an eerie greenish bluey light from the lake that meant the sun was already rising.

The hangings closed, covering Sebastian in darkness again. It really was too early to be awake.


	15. Chapter 15 - The Forbidden Forest

Snape had called Draco and Sebastian into his office after breakfast the next morning and made it clear that he expected them to make up as many points as possible.

Between them answering every question they could in their classes and Snape arbitrarily handing out points for any Slytherins who did anything well in his lessons, Slytherin had almost made up all one hundred points by the end of the week. They were still behind where they should have been, but at least they were much better off than Gryffindor, who were now adrift in last place in the house standings.

McGonagall seemed to be refusing to hand out points simply to try to make up ground like Snape was. Although both Sebastian and Draco had given up answering questions in transfiguration because she was, at least, refusing to award the two of them points.

Sebastian noticed as the week went on that Gryffindor were very much taking their new position out on Hermione, Neville and Ron. Most obviously he noticed there was a wide berth around them at the Gryffindor table every meal time, but even in lessons, Hermione barely raised her hand anymore in what Sebastian assumed was an attempt to not draw attention to herself.

The Slytherins on the other hand, while not happy that they'd lost so many points, had banded together to try to get as many points back as possible. And, after he and Draco had assured the prefects that they'd be on their best behaviour, they weren't really treated any differently. Although Sebastian did wonder if it was because it was him and Malfoy and whether Slytherin as a whole would have acted differently if it were two students from lesser known families.

Sebastian had been hoping that McGonagall had forgotten about giving them all a detention, but at breakfast at the end of the week, both he and Draco got given notes.

 _Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr Filch in the entrance hall._

 _Prof. M. McGonagall_

At ten to eleven that evening, he and Draco made their way up to the entrance hall.

Filch was standing alone by the double doors holding a massive glass lantern, his tabby cat winding in and out of his legs. They waited in silence.

Filch kept checking his watch on his wrist as the minutes rocked closer to eleven, each time fumbling with his coat sleeve. Sebastian was watching Filch for lack of anything else to do. He didn't think he'd ever seen Filch wear anything other than that long, shabby coat. Of course, it was entirely possible that all of Filch's clothes looked the same and Sebastian just hadn't been paying enough attention to notice the slight difference. Everything Filch was wearing had an almost colourless appearance. Sebastian could tell there were suppose to be different colours, but under all the years of dust and wear, all he got was a mournful, dull brown.

"They're late," Filch said suddenly. Sebastian checked his watch; it had just ticked over to 11:01. He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes as he looked over at Draco.

Almost as soon as he'd looked up again, Hermione, Ron and Neville came into view at the top of the grand staircase, making their way slowly down. Sebastian could see Hermione trying to get the other two to hurry up, not wanting to be late even for a detention with Filch.

Filch was fiddling with his lamp as they approached. There was a horrible squeaking noise as he opened the metal shutters on each side of the lantern to cast a larger beam. "Follow me," Filch said once they'd reached him, and he opened the huge front doors and shuffled outside.

"I'll bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" Sebastian wasn't sure who Filch was speaking to. Nobody replied, but it didn't seem to faze the grizzled caretaker. "Oh, yes... Hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me... It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out... Hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days. I've still got the chains in my office. Keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed."

Sebastian shot Draco an amused look, and they stood back as Filch closed the big front doors back up, shooing Mrs Norris back inside in the process.

"Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now. It'll be worse for you if you do."

Draco raised his eyebrow as Filch took off down the path, the Gryffindors following close behind him. "If we were going to run, why would we have bothered turning up?" Draco whispered.

The walk down the slope was difficult. The grass was wet and slippery underneath their feet, and Sebastian could hear Neville sniveling as they made their way towards the forbidden forest. The clouds above were blocking most of the light from the moon, and all Sebastian had to go on was the glow from the windows of Hagrid's hut and the swaying light from Filch's lantern.

He was starting to think that Filch was going to march them straight into the forest when there was a shout from nearby. "Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."

Hagrid's looming figure materialised out of the shadow of the trees a hundred yards or so away.

Ron must have smiled at Hagrid's appearance as Filch turned to him with a snarl. "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy—it's into the forest where you're going,and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."

Sebastian heard Neville let out a small moan, and he wasn't the only one dreading the prospect of a nighttime jaunt in the forest. Draco had stopped dead beside him, and he looked as white as a ghost.

"The forest?" Draco said, eyes wide looking between Filch and Hagrid's approaching figure as if waiting to be told it was a joke. "We can't go in there!"

There was no reply as Hagrid reached them. "Abou' time," he said.

Now that he'd come closer, Sebastian could see that he was carrying a large cross bow in one hand, a quiver of arrows slung across his back, and a lantern like Filch's but much larger. He wasn't alone either; a large black boar hound was tracing his footsteps, head down close to the ground. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Neville, Ron, Hermione?"

"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," Filch said with obvious disdain in his tone. "They're here to be punished after all."

"That's why yer late, is it? Bin lecturing them, eh?" He asked Filch as he put down the lantern. "'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."

"I'll be back at dawn for what's left of them." Filch turned and headed back to the castle, his bobbing light marking his progress through the darkness.

"I'm not going in that forest," Draco said again.

"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts. Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it," Hagrid said, his voice strong.

"But this is servants' stuff, it's not for students to do. And besides, there's all sorts of stuff in there-" Hagrid seemed unmoved, and Sebastian could see Draco searching for an excuse that would work. Draco's eyes met Sebastian's briefly, and Sebastian saw a flash of an idea in them as Draco turned back to Hagrid. "Werewolves!" He all but shouted. "There are werewolves in there. You can't make us go in there. Not after what happened to his family." Draco gestured to Sebastian. "It's torture, is what it is. Making him relive that for punishment. I'll write to my father. I'll write to the Ministry. They won't allow it."

Hagrid didn't look so sure anymore. He was shooting worried glances at Sebastian as he rubbed nervously at the arm holding his crossbow. "Oh, well, tha's not.. I mean if yer.."

"It's not a full moon, Draco," Sebastian said quietly but clearly, ignoring Hagrid's mumbling. "Can we get this over with?"

Draco was about to say something more, but he shut his mouth after the glare Sebastian shot him and nodded.

"Yeh, of course. Not a full moon. Right then," Hagrid said, trying to regain composure. "Now, er, listen carefully. 'Cause it is dangerous what we're gonna do tonight an' I don't want no one takin' any risks. Follow me over here a moment."

Picking up his light, he led them over to the edge of the forest, just under the cover of their branches to where they could see a pathway.

'Pathway' was stretching it a bit though, Sebastian thought. It was more like a dirt track worn down between the foliage.

Hagrid lifted the light higher as he pointed down the track between the trees. "Look there, see that stuff shining on the ground? Silvery stuff?" They all nodded; there were small patches of it further up the path, catching Hagrid's light. Without the light, it would have been impossible to see, the dense forest was pitch black. "That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt bad by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gunna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."

"And what if— _whatever it was_ —that hurt the unicorn finds us first?" Draco asked.

"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or fang. Just keep ter the path."

Sebastian thought that was a bit of an odd thing to say after assuring them they'd be safe, especially seeing as Hagrid had a humongous crossbow on his shoulder, but he didn't interrupt as Hagrid started talking again. "Right, we're gonna split inter two parties and follow the trail in two diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place. It must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least.

"Now, I think it'll be best if Neville and Draco both come with me," he said as he looked around at them. Sebastian had to bite his lip to stop himself from smirking. Hagrid had obviously picked the two students that looked the most scared to go with him, but Sebastian wasn't about to tease Draco in front of the others. "So that leaves Ron, Hermione and Sebastian with Fang ter go the other way. If any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up Green sparks, right? I've bin told yeh all know that spell. Get yer wands out an' practice now. That's it—an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, and we'll all come an' find yeh—so be careful—an' lets go."

Hagrid picked up his lantern and led the way into the forest following the path. Sebastian took his wand out and whispered 'lumos'. The forest was almost pitch black, and even with Hagrid's light it was difficult to see the ground. A little way along the dirt track, it split in two.

He, Hermione and Ron, who had ahold of Fang, went to the right as Hagrid, Neville and Draco went left.

They continued on in silence, Sebastian walking a little way in front of Hermione and Ron. There wasn't any sign of unicorn blood on their path that Sebastian could see.

"What did Malfoy mean about the werewolves?" Hermione asked after they'd been walking a while. "What did happen?"

Sebastian ignored her, keeping his eyes on the path in front.

Ron filled in the silence. "They got attacked outside their house. Killed his mum." There was a pause. "What?" Ron said in response to whatever look Hermione had just given him. "Everyone knows that. It was all over the Prophet. His mum owned St Mongo's, and the werewolves weren't happy about how they got treated or something, so they attacked her."

"Not everyone knows. I didn't. And since when do you read the Prophet?" Hermione asked.

Sebastian saw Ron shrug as the path turned a corner in the trees. "I just remember Mum keeping us inside the whole of Christmas holidays after it happened. Said it was too dangerous to go outside. She had loads of arguments with Dad about it. He kept telling her it was safe and it had nothing to do with us, but she wouldn't listen. Fred and George wouldn't shut up about it, kept telling stories about how the werewolves were waiting just outside the door to scare us. It was a rubbish holiday."

"Yeah, that must have been horrible," Sebastian said, not turning round. "I'm so sorry my mum being killed ruined your holiday."

"Seb-"

"And she didn't own St Mongo's," he said, his voice dripping with condescension. "She was on the board. No one _owns_ St Mongo's."

"Whatever," Ron said. "She helped run it."

Sebastian shook his head. The movement made him see something on the path ahead, glinting in his wand light. "I think I see some unicorn blood," Sebastian said, speeding up.

"Sure you do," he heard Ron mutter.

Sebastian jogged forward. As he got closer, he could see it was definitely unicorn blood. There was a puddle of it at the edge of the pathway and a trail leading off through broken branches at the side of the path. It looked as if it had been dragged that way. He came to a stop next to the break in the bushes, pointing his wand into the darkness.

"What is it?" Hermione said as she joined him.

She bit her lip as she peered into the trees adding her light, but even with two wands, the light could only penetrate so far. The forest seemed to swallow it. "Hagrid said to stay on the paths."

"He also said to find the unicorn."

Ron had finally caught up and was standing beside Hermione now. "Well, it definitely went that way."

Fang whined as if in reply, and Ron had to tighten his grip as the dog tried to back away from the blood.

Sebastian stepped over the puddle, careful not to disturb it, and edged through the gap in the undergrowth. The twigs kept snagging on his robes, threatening to ensnare him, and he had to tug at the fabric a few times to get loose, but most of the way had been cleared, trampled by whatever had passed this way before.

The bushes stopped abruptly as he broke through to the other side. There was a small slope leading down to a flat area, but the dragging marks stopped at the edge. Sebastian couldn't see any more blood or any other traces that the unicorn was pulled any further.

He stepped slowly down, placing his feet carefully between roots that were growing out of the side of the drop, until he was on level ground again. He could hear Hermione and Ron following through the undergrowth behind him as he ventured forward to look around the area. It wasn't a clearing exactly. There were still trees, massive old ones with roots burrowing out around them, but they were spaced out. This area was much clearer than the forest had been. There was barely any low level plants or bushes, and the ground was mostly clear.

Ron was dragging Fang down into the clearing beside him and Hermione, who had started to look around too. They fanned out, pointing their wand light down at the ground trying to find signs of what had happened to the unicorn.

After another few minutes, Sebastian sighed. "There's no sign of-" He stopped, sure he had heard a rustling sound coming from nearby. He looked around. He was much further forward in the clearing than the other two were now. "What was that?" he whispered back to the others.

They stood still in the silence, straining their ears to hear the smallest of sounds.

"Werewolves," Ron said after a moment. Hermione hit him and was just about to say something else when there was that noise again.

"Shhh!"

There was something moving in the shadows on the other side of the clearing. Too far for their wand light to reach. Fang whined again, crouching on the ground and trying to bury his head in his paws.

Sebastian could just make out—something. Almost a figure, as if they were wearing a cloak, a hood shrouding their face and blending into the darkness.

"H-hello?" Sebastian flinched. Hermione's voice seemed to echo across the space. Nothing moved. The forest was completely still. Holding it's breath as much as Sebastian was.

"It's just a shadow," Ron said, trying to laugh, but his voice never rose above a whisper.

Sebastian took a step further forward. The sound of a twig snapping from the other end of the clearing broke the silence. Sebastian's heart leapt into his throat as he waited for whatever it was to move.

There was a slithering sound, and then the shadows seemed to burst into motion. Sebastian stumbled backwards as a sweeping darkness flew sideways through the trees. No more than a shadow but somehow darker than the rest of the shadows, and it was moving impossibly fast. It faded further away into the darkness and then—nothing.

Sebastian risked a look back. Ron and Hermione were both standing frozen a few metres behind him.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron breathed.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something when there was a loud scream further into the forest on their other side.

"Neville!" Hermione and Ron shouted at the same time. They took off sprinting up the slope and into the trees, Fang barking along beside them. Sebastian could just about see the red sparks through the trees as he followed, but he hesitated before leaving the clearing. The hair on the back of his neck was prickling as if he was being watched. He turned slowly, wand raised to shed as much light on the clearing as possible. His eyes searching into the shadows. Nothing. There was still nothing, but he was certain he was being observed now.

He slipped backwards into the tree line, extinguishing his light and hoping the shadows would cover him as well as they were covering whoever was watching. He could still hear Hermione and Ron crashing through the trees, but it was getting fainter by the second. His eyes adjusted to the darkness as he stood still; no movement. Maybe he was just imagining things. All the talk of werewolves was making him see things where there were only shadows.

But he was sure he was being watched.

He dragged his eyes away from the clearing and turned, lighting his wand. His neck burned at the thought of turning his back, but he had to see where he was going. Picking his way through the undergrowth as calmly as he could, he followed after the others, trying to slow his heart rate and calm himself down.

He could hear angry voices up ahead now. They were distorted as they echoed through the branches, but he was able to make out what Hagrid was saying.

"We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now with all that racket."

There was more murmuring that he couldn't catch, and then, "Sebastian?" Hermione called.

"He was right behind us, I swear."

Sebastian was just starting to make out their light through the trees when Fang came bounding back to him, barking noisily.

Sebastian didn't like dogs much, but he smiled and crouched down to scratch at Fang's ears, glad of the company. By the time he'd reached the clearing with the others, the panicked feeling of being watched and alone had left him completely.

"Didn' I say ter stick together?" Hagrid said, shaking his head as Sebastian emerged from the trees.

Hermione and Ron were standing around a very shaken looking Neville, and Draco was standing off to the side, arms crossed with a smirk on his face. Sebastian crossed over to stand beside him.

It turned out Draco had thought it would be funny to scare Neville while Hagrid had gone off to check on something.

"Right, we're changing groups. Seeing as you two can't seen to follow instructions, you'll both be comin' with me now."

Sebastian could have pointed out that Hermione and Ron were the ones to run off, but he didn't think it was worth the argument. Staying with Draco and Hagrid seemed like a much better place to be than where he'd been moments before.

They set off again. Hermione, Ron and Neville with Fang this time, and he and Draco sticking with Hagrid.

"You should have seen his face," Draco said once Hagrid had started walking again. "I thought Longbottom was going to start crying! So much for the house of the brave."

The next couple hours passed slowly as Draco and Sebastian trailed after Hagrid looking for patches of unicorn blood.

There was no reason that Sebastian could see for them to be there. Hagrid didn't need their help, and Sebastian's legs were aching so much from all the walking that he was starting to wish he was inside scrubbing cauldrons instead when there was a distant shout. A flurry of red sparks lit the sky above the trees. Sebastian could see more sparks through the branches too.

"Come with me," Hagrid said before taking off towards the lights. Following him wasn't hard. His bulk crashed through the trees and made an easy path for both Sebastian and Draco. Neither of them had any trouble keeping up even though they were tired. Sebastian could still feel the prickle on his skin from earlier, a distant reminder that something was lurking in these woods that shouldn't be.

When he came to a stop behind Hagrid, the first thing Sebastian noticed was the centaurs. Three of them were there. Taller than Sebastian had imagined they'd be, their upper bodies towering over Sebastian making them even taller than Hagrid was. One of them was standing almost protectively near Neville, Hermione and Ron, and the two others were looking angrily over at them from nearby.

The nearest centaur spoke. "This is where we leave you, Neville Longbottom. You are safe now."

It bowed its head briefly before walking towards the others. All three of them took off at a gallop into the trees, leaving an eerie silence behind.

"You alright, you three?" Hagrid asked.

They all nodded. "The unicorn is over there, Hagrid," Hermione said. "It's dead."

Hagrid moved towards it, quickly checking it over before sighing and gathering it up in his arms.

"Leh's get out of 'ere, then." He slung the carcass over his shoulder, adjusting it so that it would stay put before lifting his lantern back up.

Sebastian wasn't aware of much as they trekked back out of the forest. He couldn't take his eyes off the silver blood dripping softly over Hagrid's coat and onto the ground. He didn't know much about creatures, but he did know from potions that unicorn blood had healing properties: it was said to be able to heal anything, but it was illegal to trade. He'd never even seen it in the apothecary in Knockturn Alley, and he knew from going there with his sister that they had all kinds of non-tradable items.

He was exhausted when they reached the common room, and both he and Draco got into their beds without another word to each other.

When Hermione, Ron and Neville got back to the Gryffindor common room, going straight to bed was the last thing on their mind. They'd stayed silent on the walk back up to the castle, not wanting to be overheard. The common room was empty, so they took the armchairs right in front of the fireplace. The embers were burning low, but the soft glow was warm and comforting.

"All this time, we thought Snape wanted the stone for himself," Hermione said. "He wanted it for You-Know-Who."

"Wait a minute," Ron said. "Why are we assuming that that thing in the forest was You-Know-Who? Just because those centaurs wanted us to think that? They sounded pretty barmy to me, all that stuff about mars being bright."

"Why else would they want us to think it was?"

"I don't know, do I? I'm just saying, it could have been anything. He's suppose to be dead, remember?"

"I'm not so sure," Hermione said slowly. She was remembering what Sebastian had said about You-Know-Who returning when they'd argued at Halloween.

"It was him."

Her and Ron both turned to look at Neville. He was staring into the fire, arms clenched in his lap. "I th-think it was him. And Snape is trying to steal it for him. We can't let him. He can't come back."

"He won't. Dumbledore won't let him. So long as Dumbledore is around, You-Know-Who won't get near the stone."

"That's not what the centaurs said."

"What?" Hermione said, her exasperation showing as she turned back to Ron.

"Well." Ron rubbed his neck. "If we're listening to what the centaurs said, then they seemed to think the planets had told them he was coming back. I mean it all sounded like nonsense to me but..."

"It is nonsense." Hermione nodded, fixing her eyes on Neville's. "Professor McGonagall says fortune telling is a very imprecise branch of magic.

"That might have been him in the forest, Neville, but Dumbledore won't let him get the stone. It's going to be alright." She tried to sound as positive as possible, but after they had all gone to bed, she couldn't get the image of the unicorn out of her head. Firenze had said drinking it's blood would give someone a cursed life. But it was life all the same, and if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was willing to do that, then she worried what else he'd try.

...

* * *

...

The next week saw Hermione buried in revision for their end of year exams. They only had a few days left, and while all three of them were more wary of Snape than ever, Dumbledore's constant presence at meal times was enough to put it to the back of their minds.

Hermione was still nagging Ron and Neville to revise, but they'd given up accompanying her to the library. She seemed to run back there a few times a day to double check something or other, and both boys felt it was better use of their time to stay in the common room or better yet in their dorm where Hermione couldn't check up on them.

She was in the library on one such errand, (she wanted to check out more information about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct just incase it came up) when she noticed Sebastian heading to the table in the back.

She put the book she was holding carefully back on the shelf. She'd been so busy, what with exams coming and worries about You-Know-Who, that she'd completely forgotten what else she'd learnt that night. She ran her finger thoughtfully down the spine of the old leather bound book she'd been reading: _A Confusion of Werewolves: A Discussion on the History of Werewolf Legislation_ _._

 _..._

Sebastian had his head buried in a charms book when he felt the eerie sensation of being watched. He tensed, looking up quickly only to let out a relieved laugh when he saw it was Hermione.

"What's funny?" she asked as she sat down.

"Nothing." Sebastian smiled, shaking his head. "I just felt someone watching me." He looked at her now closely and frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm always here."

"You don't have any books. You always have books."

"Oh, I was just.." She trailed off. "I was looking something up."

"About?" he asked as he tried to find the passage he was making notes on.

Hermione never answered, and he looked up once he'd copied the next sentence down. She was biting her lip.

"What?" he asked warily.

"I want to ask you another question," she said quickly. "If that's okay? I mean, you don't have to answer, I just-"

"Hermione," he said, smiling and cutting off her rambling.

"Werewolves," she blurted out, then quickly clarified. "I was looking up werewolves."

Sebastian's smile dropped. "Werewolves," he repeated as he looked back down at his notes.

"What Draco said—that's how your mother died? That's what he meant by what happened to your family, isn't it? And you were there when it happened?"

Sebastian nodded. "Me and Astoria."

"I'm so sorry. That must have been—I can't imagine. How did you get away?"

"Turns out werewolves don't like being set on fire."

"What?"

Sebastian had to laugh at Hermione's shocked expression. But he sobered up quickly as his thoughts went back to that night.

He wasn't sure what to say to explain. So he took a deep breath and started at the beginning.

"When they attacked, they went for my mum and sister. There were two of them. I was farthest away. Lucky, I guess. It was like they just appeared out of nowhere, which is impossible. I guess we just weren't paying attention with it being Yule. But when one went for Story-" Sebastian swallowed thickly. He could see Astoria going down screaming in his head. It was all too real. He coughed, trying to get his thoughts in order. "She dropped her wand when it attacked. The other one had gone for Mum, so I knew I had to do something. But I didn't know much of any magic." He shrugged. "They always used the fire lighting charm around the house. It was the first thing I thought of when I picked up her wand.

"The werewolf freaked when it caught fire. All that fur to burn. It gave me enough time to get to Astoria, and she managed to apparate us away." He was leaving a lot out, like how his mum had screamed at him to run and how he'd looked over at her just as her scream was cut off. How he'd told Astoria to go when she'd hesitated and tried to look for their mum. How those few seconds nearly cost them.

"Where did you go to?" Hermione's voice brought him back to the present. "St Mongo's?"

"No," Sebastian said. "She brought us to the Ministry. I don't think she was thinking straight, it was just the first place she thought of. I vaguely remember all hell breaking loose. Must have been a bit of a shock for the workers having a werewolf apparate directly into the atrium."

"What?"

"It caught me just as we left. Side along apparated with us. I don't really remember much of what happened after, just lots of pain. I remember Story being unconscious as soon as we landed. Then Madam Bones was there. She's head of the DMLE now. Then-" He shrugged again. "I passed out. Blood loss or something. Woke up in St Mongo's."

Hermione was silent.

"Answer all your questions?" he asked, sounding more bitter than he'd meant to.

"Oh, Seb. I'm sorry."

"You really should have been sorted into Ravenclaw. Nosiness killed the niffler, you know?"

Hermione gave him a funny look, and he was about to explain when she laughed. "We say curiosity killed the cat. Muggles, I mean."

He smiled. "Right, I've heard that before too. Do I get a question in return?" He waited for her to nod before continuing. "What happened to the dragon?"

He hadn't had a chance to ask her about it since they'd all been caught by McGonagall.

"I don't know. No, really-" Hermione said quickly when he went to cut her off. "We left it in one of the alcoves on the fifth floor, but when we went back the next day it was gone. Ron got a letter from Charlie—his brother—saying they'd gotten it okay. But, I don't know how."

They lapsed into silence.

"Where did-" She paused. "How do you know how to cast a stunner? I looked it up. We aren't suppose to even learn the theory until fifth year."

"Story and Augustus taught me. Actually, I'm suppose to be meeting Augustus now." Sebastian looked at his watch. Augustus was already late, but his last exam had been yesterday, and with his NEWTs officially over, Sebastian wouldn't be surprised if he'd forgotten about meeting up completely.

Hermione left after another few minutes, saying she'd told Neville and Ron she would be back soon. Sebastian hung around for a while longer but gave up after Archie came by to pester him. Figuring Augustus would find him some other time and knowing that it was impossible to study when Archie didn't want to, they left to find less boring pursuits.


	16. Chapter 16 - Exam breaks

**AN: I managed to forget to upload a chapter last month. Whoops. Sorry. I've written ahead a fair few chapters though so there's no worry I'jj be abandoning this. I just forgot.**

* * *

Augustus had come to find Sebastian at the Slytherin table during dinner that evening to apologise for not showing up in the library. Though he had managed to snag the supplies they needed, and so they'd rearranged to meet in the library the next day.

Lessons had broken up on Friday afternoon, and Sebastian was just turning away from Archie to head up to the library when he walked straight into Matt.

"Merlin! Where did you appear from?"

Archie had turned back towards them at the commotion. "How did you get here so quickly?" he asked, jogging back towards them.

"Our defence class was let out early," Matt said, smiling. "I thought I'd come and meet you. Where are we going?"

"I was going to the library."

"Great, I'll come too. I've-"

"No," Sebastian interrupted before he could stop himself.

"What?"

"I was- I'm meeting Augustus." The excuse felt weak even as Sebastian said it. Matt and Archie both knew Augustus. It wasn't a reason for Matt to not tag along. He watched Matt's expression fall. "Oh, right."

Sebastian shot a desperate look over at Archie, who smoothly stepped between them and grabbed his brother's arm. "I was going outside. It's sunny. You should come with me. I dunno why everyone wants to go to the library all the time. Plus, I'm much better company."

Archie beamed brightly at his brother and was rewarded with a small smile. He threw his arm over Matt's shoulder and tugged him away down the corridor, sharing a significant look with Sebastian behind Matt's back. Sebastian shook his head at how easily Matt could have ruined their plans as he took off towards the library.

Augustus was already waiting for him when he got to the table.

"Thought you were gonna stand me up this time, kid." Augustus smiled at him as Sebastian slid into the seat.

"Had to get rid of Matt."

"Right, don't want to ruin the surprise. Speaking of which," Augustus reached into his bag and started pulling out a long ribbon of yellow and black bunting, "I stole it from Newt's room. I don't think he's even noticed yet actually." He deposited the tangled mess onto the table between them and exaggerated a frown. "It looked better hanging up."

Sebastian laughed as they started to try to untangle it. "This is a lot longer than I was expecting."

"Don't worry, you concentrate on transfiguring the letters you had planned. I'll take care of all the extra bits."

Sebastian nodded.

It was Matt's birthday on Wednesday, and the plan was to decorate the classroom on the second floor. They didn't have anything in Ravenclaw colours, let alone anything that said happy birthday, so he'd gone to Augustus for help hoping that his cousin's colour changing charms would last a lot longer than anything a first year could manage.

After a year's worth of practicing transfiguration with Augustus, Sebastian was more than capable of doing the lettering himself.

"Two weeks left of classes then you're free," Sebastian said once the bunting was folded in neat piles.

"Yeah," Augustus said. "Free."

Sebastian frowned, confused at Augustus' tone. He'd been talking excitedly about his plans for once he left school for months. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, kid. Just worried." He ran a hand through his light brown hair. "I don't like the waiting. Wish we got our results sooner. You guys only have to wait a couple days for yours, I have to wait nearly two months."

"You'll do fine," Sebastian said.

Augustus let out a breathy laugh. "I need to do a bit better than fine, Seb."

"You know what I mean. You'll get the grades. And they'll let you in. They'll be begging you to accept a place, and you'll be an auror before you can even think 'Merlin! This was a mistake!' But it'll be too late and-"

"Alright, I get it." Augustus shook his head, but he was smiling. "Thanks."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they started work. Augustus started on one end, going triangle by triangle. He'd said it was best that way, that he could probably do all of them in one go, but he didn't think the charms would last until Wednesday if he did.

Sebastian pulled out the scraps of parchment that Archie had given him from his bag. Archie had drawn out all the lettering for 'Happy Birthday Matt' over the last couple of days so that Sebastian had something to concentrate on. Augustus had drilled him enough times about needing to visualize something before transfiguring it. He'd come prepared.

It was almost dinner by the time they were done, although that had more to do with getting sidetracked by talking than the task at hand. But it was finished: A couple of metres worth of bunting in Ravenclaw blue and bronze with 'Happy Birthday Matt' printed clearly and neatly on it.

Sebastian folded it up carefully, as if handling it too roughly might rub the colour charms off, and placed it in his bag, making sure there weren't any parts poking out the side.

"You need any help with anything for your exams?" Augustus asked as they walked down to dinner together.

"What? You haven't done enough studying? You want to do mine too?"

Augustus laughed.

"No, I'm good," Sebastian said, smiling. "I reckon I can even scrape a pass in History of Magic if I try really hard."

Dinner was already served, so they said goodbye in the entrance hall and split up, going to their house tables. Archie was already eating dinner when Sebastian walked over.

"You get it done?" Archie whispered as Sebastian sat down next to him.

"Yes, no problems."

"So," Archie said after a moment. Sebastian stopped dishing out food and turned to look at him. He knew that tone of voice.

"What have you done?"

"I had to tell Matt you were upset about Augustus leaving school. Like, really upset. Crying into your pillow at night upset."

"Archie!"

"Matt thought you were mad at him! I didn't know how to explain you not wanting him to go to the library with you without telling him about- you know?" He gestured to Sebastian's bag. "I had to make something up. I was only going to say you wanted to spend time with your cousin before he left school, but Matt didn't believe me. He looked so miserable, Seb."

"He's going to be asking me about it all the time now."

"It's only until Wednesday. Take one for the team."

Sebastian found it ironic that Archie was telling him to do that when he couldn't even deal with his brother being upset for a couple hours, but the worried glances Matt threw him over the next couple of days were quickly forgotten.

Exams had started.

Monday morning saw all of the first years shepherded into a very large classroom on the ground floor ready for their transfiguration theory test. Small individual, wooden desks had been set out in rows, filling the room. There was a list by the door with prearranged seating arrangements that they each checked before finding their seats.

Special quills enchanted with anti-cheating spells were handed out as the students sweated nervously. It was an extremely hot day,and the morning sunlight bearing down through the windows was doing little to make them feel comfortable.

It wasn't all written exams though; they had practical exams too. They were made to wait outside in the halls as one by one they were called in to the classrooms to perform spells. McGonagall asked them to turn a towel into a scarf while Flitwick asked them to make a piece of fruit dance across his desk. Sebastian found these more nerve-racking than the theory exams as they could see the delight or despair on the faces of the students who had been called in before them. He wasn't sure what was worse: seeing people think they'd done badly and worrying it was a really hard task or seeing everyone come out smiling and worrying that he'd fail at something others had found easy. In the end, nothing was too difficult, though he was sure he could have done better in charms, he'd still been able to make his squash jig ungracefully across the table.

When Wednesday morning arrived, he and Archie both got up early.

While Archie was forcing his way onto the Ravenclaw table to have breakfast with his brother, Sebastian made his way down to the kitchens to finalise their plans for later that day with the house elves. He knew he had all morning to sort it out as they didn't have any lessons that morning because of exams, but he wanted to avoid as many Hufflepuffs, who would give him weird looks for being in the basement corridor, as possible so he'd decided to do it while they were all at breakfast.

Archie was still spending time with Matt when Sebastian met up with Edgar on the second floor later that morning. They moved a few tables together near the wall, ready for when the food arrived, and using a few well placed sticking hexes, they managed to hang the now Ravenclaw-coloured bunting on the wall of the classroom.

Sebastian was relieved to see that the colours were still Ravenclaw blue and bronze and the writing he'd transfigured was still in place.

A couple of house elves showed up with a small chocolate cake, a platter of sandwiches and sausage rolls, and a pitcher of pumpkin juice with goblets as well as, to Sebastian's amusement, a deep blue table cloth to cover the tables they'd set up. Sebastian thought it all looked pretty good as he placed Matt's presents on the table.

"You went a bit overboard, don't you think?" Edgar asked once they'd left.

"Hey, I was only asking for cake," Sebastian said, holding his hands up. "But once they find out why," he motioned to what now looked like quite an elaborate lunch for four people, "they kept asking if I wanted more stuff. It was all I could do to stop them making a three course meal. You know what house elves are like."

"I'll take your word for it," Edgar said.

Sebastian could hear voices in the corridor now, and he shushed Edgar as he went to check. Leaning his ear against the door, he could hear Matt speaking. Sebastian grinned at what was being said as he nodded over at Edgar,and they both went to stand by the table.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Matt's complaining. He thinks Archie is dragging him up here to practice."

The door handle rattled as the door came off the latch. Archie pushed the door open wide and stepped sideways so Matt was framed in the doorway.

"Happy birthday!"

Matt's eyes went wide, and Sebastian couldn't help but grin as he watched them roam over the banner and across the table. Archie nudged Matt in the back to make him step further into the room, so he could close the door behind him.

"Don't tell me," Sebastian said, "you're not hungry?"

Matt didn't say anything as he looked between them all and then back at the table. Sebastian looked over at Archie, who just shook his head, trying not to laugh at Matt's shocked reaction. So Sebastian walked over to Matt and threw his arm over his shoulder, forcing him to walk with him into the room. "Presents first or food?"

"Presents first, obviously," Archie said from behind them as he swung a chair over to the table and sat down on it backwards.

They all laughed as Archie grabbed the top most present off the small pile next to him and handed it to Matt. "Mine first."

Matt was smiling brightly as Edgar got them chairs to sit down on, though Sebastian opted to sit on the table next to them.

Matt took the parcel from Archie without really looking at it. "Where did you get the cake from?" Matt said, ignoring the heavy, black-wrapped package he was now holding in favour of looking at all the food.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Sebastian said mysteriously before Edgar interrupted him.

"He stole it from the kitchens."

"I didn't steal it! I asked politely."

"Enough! Open the present already."

"Sorry," Matt said, chuckling as he carefully pried the paper open. It came apart quickly, and a random assortment of the most colourful sweets you could imagine spilled over his lap and onto the floor.

Sebastian jumped down to pick up a bright blue pack of Droobles Best Blowing Gum that had fallen to the floor as Matt tried to place it all on the table. There were liquorice wands, a chocolate wand, jelly slugs, a pack of bright pink ice mice and even a bright yellow package of Fizzing Whizbees Levitating Sherbet.

"All of your favourites, right?" Archie asked.

"Yeah, thanks, Archie."

"I still can't believe you like liquorice wands," Sebastian said as he made a gagging motion. "Give him ours, Edgar."

Edgar reached over to pick up the other present, this time wrapped in multi-coloured stripes with the words 'happy birthday' printed across it, flashing in and out, and handed it to Matt. "Happy birthday."

"Open it quickly," Sebastian said. "I think Archie's going to make a dive for the cake."

"I am not!"

Matt opened it quickly to a round of laughter as he obviously agreed with Sebastian. A large hard-backed book slipped out into his hands.

"Stories From The Stars," he read, "A collection of myths from the wizarding world. It's great! Thank you."

"You bought him a book," Archie said.

"It's got stories about all the constellations in it," Sebastian said.

"He's got stories about stars-"

"Greek and Roman ones," Sebastian said, glaring at Archie before turning back to Matt. "This has Egyptian and even stories from the Far East too. Plus," he said turning back to Archie, "I bought you a book for Christmas, and you haven't put it down."

"I think Archie's hungry." Edgar laughed, trying to stop an argument from brewing. "Shall we eat?"

They all nodded, and as the sun streamed in the open windows of the classroom, they tucked into the food. After a very short amount of time, they'd demolished the sandwiches and sausage rolls and had moved on, quickly digging into the chocolate cake. (Matt got two slices as he was the birthday boy.)

By the time they were finished, the table was a mess of crumbs and ripped wrapping paper. The bunting on the wall had come away on one side due to a rather weak sticking hex, which Sebastian insisted was Edgar's. And when they tried to get it down they accidentally undid some of the colour charms; a couple of the triangles turning back to their original Hufflepuff colours.

Sebastian stuffed the confused bunting into his bag to try to give it back to Augustus at some point while Matt stuffed all of his sweets and his new book into his already over full bag. They left everything else piled up on the table where the house elves could tidy it easily, then made their way down to the grounds where they had their final flying lesson of the year.

It was a joint lesson. All four houses of first years were standing around on the grass waiting their turns. The exam was a simple circuit. They had to mount a broom and fly in a straight line for a few metres then turn back and dismount. Even the least competent flyers had nothing to worry about, and most of the class spent the rest of the time letting off steam before settling back into the reality of more exams.

Defence theory, back in the large, hot room with the anti-cheating quills, consisted of Sebastian trying really hard not to mix up imps and all of the other small, annoying creatures they'd been learning about that year. Potions on Friday morning saw them brewing the forgetfulness potion from memory before finishing the week with charms theory.

Saturday came around and, with it, the penultimate match of the Quidditch season. It would be the decider on where the Quidditch cup would end up. Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Hufflepuff were well ahead in the standings, but Slytherin, their closest rivals, could overtake them if they won by 130 points or more.

Sebastian had pretty much conceded defeat before they'd even gotten to the stadium. The Hufflepuff team had been too good this year, and even if Slytherin could win (which he was still hoping for) he doubted they'd win by that kind of margin. Archie, Draco and Rory, however, were taking no notice of Hufflepuff's form and had been spending the whole of what Sebastian had felt had been a very long breakfast going over all of the scenarios that could happen during the match which would give Slytherin enough points to take the cup.

All their enthusiasm was worth nothing.

Slytherin had the lead for most of the match, but they never managed much of a gap, and in the end, they didn't even manage the win. Hufflepuff caught the snitch to win the match and all but seal the Quidditch cup.

It seemed like the whole school was celebrating as the Slytherins made their way out of the stadium. But the weekend was warm, and it was almost the end of term. They only had one week left. Sebastian was determined not to let the loss ruin their weekend.

So on Sunday afternoon, both Archie and Sebastian changed into their swimming trunks in their dorm.

Sebastian had just thrown a robe on over his head when Draco walked in.

"You wanna come down to the lake with us, Draco?" Sebastian asked as he pulled his boots roughly on.

"No, what would I want to splash around in a lake for?"

Sebastian saw Archie shaking his head as he pulled his robes on, but he kept his mouth shut as Sebastian went over to Draco.

"Because it's fun. And, it's hot outside."

"What are you, five?"

"Come on, Draco," he said, trying again. Sebastian could see Draco's expression falter as he looked out the windows at the lake, but then his expression closed and he shook his head at Sebastian.

"You sure?" Sebastian asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, thanks. But have fun embarrassing yourselves in front of the whole school."

"Alright." Sebastian shrugged, turning to Archie. "Come on then."

"What's the betting that he doesn't know how to swim?" Archie muttered as they made their way into the corridor. "I bet his daddy told him it was beneath him."

The grounds weren't as busy as Sebastian had been expecting them to be for such a sunny day. There was a group of newly freed NEWT students playing a messy game of Quidditch over the flat ground near the Quidditch pitch, and there were groups of fifth year students lounging around enjoying the sun. But they only saw a few pockets of younger students who were studying in groups for their last few exams, most of the school were inside.

Sebastian could see Fred and George in the lake poking at the tentacles of the giant squid that was basking in the sunshine as they passed. He dragged Archie round to a quieter area of the lake. The trees of the forbidden forest were just encroaching the area, and there was only a small patch of grass before the lake started.

Archie had ditched his robes, his wand falling out of its pocket and rolling over the grass, and was splashing into the lake before Sebastian had even removed his boots. Once he was deep enough, Archie dived into the water, coming up spluttering seconds later.

"It's freezing!"

Sebastian laughed as he took his robes off and folded them carefully next to Archie's pile, picking up Archie's wand and tucking it back into his stuff as he did so. He double checked his wand was secure in his boot before jogging over to the water. The water was icy, but with the sun shining down, it was only moments before he got used to it, and by the time he'd swum out to where Archie was, he'd forgotten about the cold completely.

They tried to do handstands and underwater somersaults as they splashed about, their laughter ringing out over the calm water. They had a race over to where a tree branch was encroaching the lake, and Archie pretended to be shocked that he won even though he had always been the stronger swimmer. Sebastian was just coming up for air after they'd both tried to hold their breath the longest underwater when he spotted Edgar sitting by their stuff. Sebastian grinned over at him and waved, splashing Archie in the process, causing Edgar to laugh.

He and Archie splashed over towards him. "How long have you been there?" Sebastian asked once they'd gotten closer.

"Not long."

"That's why you've already got a book out, is it?"

"You do know exams aren't over, right?"

"We're having a day off," Archie announced. "Come swimming, Edgar. Or are you too good for swimming too?"

Sebastian splashed a massive wave at Archie. "Don't start that again. He didn't want to come swimming."

"Who didn't?"

"Malfoy," Archie said. Edgar laughed as Archie rolled his eyes, inciting Sebastian to splash him again.

"You should get in," Sebastian said. "It's nice and - fresh."

Archie laughed as Edgar shook his head. "I don't have any trunks."

"I have a spare pair in my room." Sebastian made to wade out of the water.

"They aren't Slytherin green are they?" Edgar asked, stopping Sebastian in his tracks.

"They might be," Sebastian said with a wry smile on his face. The trunks he was wearing were plain black, but he was pretty sure the spare set he had were green.

"It's okay, I'd rather stay dry anyway."

Archie and Sebastian shared a look before they both ran forward, splashing water at Edgar who yelped, rolling backwards away from them, taking his now very wet book with him.

They were all laughing too hard to notice two figures wading over to them in the water. Fred and George were only paces away when Archie saw them and nudged Sebastian.

"Alright? I see the squid didn't eat you both then," Sebastian said as they waved.

"We're her favourite students," one of them said.

"Yeah, just because she kept knocking us off our feet doesn't mean she didn't enjoy being tickled."

Sebastian laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure that means she was enjoying herself."

"We thought so, didn't we, George?"

George grinned as he sat down on the dry ground near Edgar. "You enjoy reading wet books? Hobby of yours?"

"No," Edgar said as he picked at the wet pages. "They did it."

"I didn't do it," Sebastian said, holding his hands up innocently. "He did it!"

"Oi!" Archie said, shoving Sebastian down into the water again as he laughed. He shook his head, turning back to Edgar. "You shouldn't have been reading anyway."

"That's true. I'm George, by the way." He held out his hand to Edgar, who leaned forward slowly to shake it, wary of how close George was sitting to the water and not wanting to be pulled in. "Edgar."

"Nice to meet you, Edgar. You seem like too much of a nice boy to be in Slytherin."

"Oi!" Archie said again as he waded forward to join them. "We're in Slytherin," he said, gesturing to himself and back at Sebastian as he sat down in the water a few paces in front of them.

"Exactly." George smiled, turning back to Edgar. "So?"

"Hufflepuff," Edgar said, laughing at Archie who seemed to be talking the insult with a smile.

Sebastian was still standing further out with Fred, and they both laughed as George stuck his tongue out at Archie.

"Nice scar by the way," Fred said, dragging Sebastian's attention back to him.

Sebastian dropped his arm down, automatically trying to hide the jagged white lines that marked their way down his side before he could stop himself.

"That from a werewolf?" Fred said.

"Yeah, otherwise it would have been healed, wouldn't it?" Sebastian snapped. He made himself cross his arms in front of his chest, consciously stopping himself from trying to hide the scars. Not that he could hide them all anyway. Though most of it made its way from the back of his shoulder to his waist, there were a few marks on his upper arm that he couldn't cover.

"Not true," Fred said, ignoring Sebastian's tone. "I have a scar on my knee from where a gnome bit me. Mum said it served me right for teasing it, said I deserved a scar, wouldn't waste the healing salve. Wanna see?"

Fred did a little hop as he tried to hold his knee high enough out of the water to see the scar. Sebastian just caught site of a little mark that could have been a bite when Fred toppled over, grabbing Sebastian's arm to try to steady himself. It didn't work, and both of them lost their footing and crashed into the water.

They came up spluttering to the sound of the others all laughing at them. Sebastian made his way towards them, sitting low in the shallows so only his head and shoulders were above water. Not quite comfortable enough in this larger group to sit with his scars uncovered now that he'd been reminded of them.

"I was just explaining to this one-" George said, indicating Edgar as Fred plopped down next to him, "that he shouldn't be too happy with their victory at the match yesterday because we're going to win the Quidditch cup, aren't we, Fred?"

"You're over 600 points down," Archie said incredulously. "No way you get that much back in one match. Not even against Ravenclaw!"

"You seem to be doubting our prowess on broomsticks," Fred said.

"Your whole team could be riding Nimbus 2000's and you still wouldn't win by that much."

"Ah, but we've got a secret weapon," George said, grinning at his twin.

"Oh yeah," Sebastian said. "What would that be then?"

"Gryffindor has two amazing beaters." Fred had to raise his voice to be heard over the laughter that broke out. "All we have to do is keep hitting bludgers at Campbell, so he can't catch the snitch."

"And you'll score six hundred points?"

George grinned at Edgar. "Six hundred and thirty to be precise. And then we'll be whizzing around celebrating, you'll see."

"You won't be whizzing around anywhere on your brooms," Archie said. They all laughed as the twins both mocked hurt expressions.

"I'll have you know our brooms are state of the art -"

"-compared to the Hogwarts brooms anyway."

"You should come to my house over the summer," Sebastian said to the twins as he moved onto slightly higher ground and sat next to Archie, his left side facing away from the group. "I'll show you how fast brooms can actually fly."

"What broom have you got? A Nimbus?" George asked.

Sebastian shook his head, grinning as he said, "A Lightning Bolt."

They reacted exactly as expected, eruptting in noise, and Sebastian almost fell into Archie as they both laughed.

"What?"

"Why?"

"Can you even fly that outside?"

"Hey!" Sebastian said. "It's not that bad!"

"A light wind and you'd get blown off into the stands!"

"Well, I don't use it when it's windy." Sebastian laughed.

"It's useless for Quidditch-"

Archie laughed. "He doesn't use it for Quidditch."

"What's the point in it then?" Fred said, sounding outraged that you'd use a broom for anything else.

Edgar piped in. "It's really fast. Really fast."

The twins looked at each other for a moment then grinned. "Okay, deal."

"What?" Sebastian said, suddenly worried he'd agreed to something without meaning to.

"Summer, you said we could have a go," Fred said.

Sebastian smiled, nodding. "Deal."

Fred and George moved off shortly after, leaving the three of them lying in the shallows. Edgar had rolled his trousers up and was sitting with his feet in the lake.

"Where's Matt?"

"Studying like a good little Ravenclaw," Archie said. "He was at the match yesterday, and we went to the last gobstones meeting this morning. He said he couldn't take the whole weekend off with exams tomorrow."

"How'd that go, by the way?" Sebastian said asking about the gobstones. "There was a tournament, right?"

"Well, I didn't win."

"Obviously," Sebastian said, then laughed as Archie hit him.

"I lost in the first round actually. Matt did quite well though."

"Oh, did you ask Matt if we had to go to transfiguration tomorrow morning before our potions exam?"

"Yeah, and he says yes."

Sebastian pulled a face.

"It's McGonagall," Edgar said. "Of course you have to go."

"I thought maybe she'd have another exam to do," Sebastian said as Edgar raised his eyebrows at him. "Okay, so I hoped she would."

Sebastian did turn up the next morning to transfiguration with Archie, and McGonagall did make them have a proper lesson even though they'd already finished their transfiguration exams. She even docked house points off Terry Boot for suggesting she let them study for their Potions and Herbology theory exams later that day.

Their last exam was History of Magic on Tuesday morning. Sebastian felt nothing but relief as he put his quill down and left the room. He wasn't sure he'd answered any of the questions right, but exams were finally over. They had the rest of the week in lessons (where they'd find out their results) then the final Quidditch match and then home.

Sebastian was looking forward to a relaxed, peaceful week, but it didn't last long.


	17. Chapter 17 - The Trapdoor

After lesson for the day had finished, Sebastian carried a whole stack of books up to the library. He had no need of them now that exams were over, and he wanted them out of the dorm, so he'd brought them straight to Madam Prince to check them back in. He'd just handed over the last book and turned away from the desk when he saw Hermione run into the library.

She glanced around as if looking for someone before her eyes landed on him.

Sebastian had just enough time to frown at her panicked expression before she'd made it over to him and grabbed his arm to drag him further into the library away from the handful of students.

"I need your help," she said as soon as she came to a stop.

"What's wrong?"

"I've lost him. You have to help us."

"Lost who? What are you talking about?"

"Snape!" Hermione said, exasperated at having to explain herself. "He's trying to steal the stone."

"The stone?" Sebastian's brow creased as he tried to work out what Hermione was panicking about.

"The Philosopher's Stone." Hermione paused as she took a deep breath. "Snape's trying to steal it for You-Know-Who."

Sebastian's expression went blank very quickly as he took an involuntary step backwards and straightened up.

"Seb, please. You can't want him to come back. I know you don't. We have to stop Snape."

"How do you even- Why do you think that it's-?"

"We know it's him, Seb. He's been trying to get Professor Quirrell to tell him how to get past Fluffy for months. Who else would be helping You-Know-Who?"

He shook his head trying to get his thoughts to form. "That's-"

But Hermione spoke over him. "I know you like Snape. He's your head of house. I get it. But-"

"Hermione!" She went silent. "That's not what I was saying. If someone was helping the Dark Lord, I'm sure it would be Snape." She opened her mouth to say something, but Sebastian continued. "What I was saying was why do you think it's the Dark Lord?"

"That thing in the forest. It was him."

"That could have been anything."

"Firenze said it was him. It makes sense. You said yourself he was coming back."

"I said my uncle said he was. And the centaur actually told you it was him, did he?"

"Yes," Hermione said quickly, then paused. "Well, no, but-" Sebastian was shaking his head. "Seb, please."

"Why is it so urgent all of a sudden, anyway? You said Snape's been trying to get past Fluffy for a long time, right?"

Hermione nodded. "Since Halloween."

"So why now?"

"Dumbledore. He's not here. He's gone to the Ministry."

"And you know that how?"

"McGonagall." Hermione crossed her arms and got a haughty expression on her face. "I suppose you don't believe her either?"

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "So Snape's trying to steal the stone?"

"Yes."

"For the Dark Lord?"

"Yes!"

"If he's trying to steal the stone for the Dark Lord, who's waiting in the forest just out there," he said pointing out the window, "what makes you think I want to put myself in the way? If Snape's not stealing the stone for the Dark Lord, then why do I care? And-" he said loudly, cutting Hermione off again, "regardless why, what makes you think me getting in the way of Snape would do anything but get myself killed?"

"I'm not asking you to get in the way," she snapped. "Just find out where Snape is, so we know when he's going after it."

"So you can get in the way?"

"We're going to get the stone first. Tonight."

"You're mad."

"Some of us don't want the Dark Lord back!" she hissed, glaring at him.

"You're going to get yourselves killed."

"We have to try. We can't just do nothing. He killed Neville's parents!"

"What?" Sebastian almost choked. He stared at Hermione for a moment but she seemed to be earnest about it. Sebastian felt his skin hot up as he tried to keep his voice level through his anger. "Neville told you that, did he?"

Hermione frowned. "No, but he doesn't want to talk about it. He lives with his Nan. I'm not stupid, I worked it out."

"I guess you are stupid because you worked it out wrong. His parents aren't even dead." He could see fury and confusion warring with each other on Hermione's face as he continued. "I'm not helping you get yourselves killed for no reason. And even if it was the Dark Lord, which it isn't, I'm not going to risk what's left of my family by standing in his way." Sebastian brushed past Hermione and walked out of the library before she could reply.

He stomped through the castle in a foul mood, not thinking of where he was going. He'd almost made it down to the entrance hall when he stopped to think. He didn't want to go back to his dorm or the common room where he'd have to put on a face for the others, but he didn't want to go outside either. An involuntary shiver went down his spine as he looked down the stairs towards the doors heading out of the castle, imagining the path winding down the grassy slope and into the forest. He had no desire to go anywhere near there, not that he believed Hermione.

A laugh from a few students leaving the basement below him brought him back to the present.

He turned and headed back up the stairs, deciding the owlery was just the place to be. He was greeted by a loud screech as Ava saw him, sweeping down to land on his arm. They spent the next hour out on the battlements. Ava seemed happy enough with his company, she set about preening her feathers with her sharp beak and nipping at his fingers whenever she wanted more attention. His eyes kept being drawn out over to the forest, and Ava turned her heart shaped face towards him every time he let out a sigh until he had to give up and go inside just to get away from the view.

They stayed inside the owlery until Sebastian's stomach growled at him. Realising he was late for dinner, he finally said goodbye to Ava, who must have been hungry too as she stretched her golden wings and glided straight out one of the archways on her way to get herself some food too.

"Where have you been?" Archie asked as Sebastian sat down next to him in the Great Hall.

Sebastian shrugged as he loaded his plate with food. Almost everyone had half empty plates, and Sebastian suspected that the ones whose plates were full were already on second helpings.

Dinner did little for his mood.

Dumbledore's empty chair hung over him more than the headmasters presence ever did. Every time there was movement up at the staff table, his eyes flicked over hopefully, but it was never Dumbledore, and each time it happened his mood got worse.

"I think we can still do it," Blaise's voice droned annoyingly across from him. "Hufflepuff are only twenty points in front. We can get twenty points before Sunday."

"Hufflepuff will be getting more points too, Blaise," Pansy said. "Or can your tiny brain not understand that?"

"I know that, but it's Hufflepuff! We can get twenty points more than them. Snape won't let us lose the house cup to Hufflepuff. It'd be embarrassing."

"Speaking of embarrassing," Draco cut in, drawing Sebastian's attention. He nodded over to the end of the Gryffindor table where Neville, Ron and Hermione were sitting apart from the rest of their house. "Gryffindor are finishing bottom thanks to Longbottom and Co. Fancy being a disgrace even to a house like Gryffindor. I bet even their families-"

Something inside of Sebastian just snapped, his patience long gone. He didn't need another reminder of what had happened to Neville's family. "Shut up, _Malfoy_."

He'd said it rather louder than he meant to, and the table around him went quiet. He caught Draco's shocked expression and Archie's worried one as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The table remained quiet as he stood to leave, mumbling something about not being hungry.

"What's wrong with him?" he heard Draco stage whisper before he got out of range, the drone of the other students in the hall covering whatever was said next.

...

He was in bed with his hangings closed securely long before the others made it back from dinner. He heard the room empty out again moments later, as he lay in the darkness. Sebastian could hear someone hang back for a while before they left too, the door clicking shut loudly behind them.

He woke from nightmares of shadowy figures in forests what felt like seconds later, although by the sounds of the others being back in the dorm and getting ready for bed it must have been at least an hour or two.

He heard Theo say goodnight. The sounds of hangings being pulled closed on the other side of the dorm telling Sebastian he was in bed. Then he jumped as a sudden thud came from something hitting the end of his bed. "You need anything?"

It took Sebastian a moment to realise Draco was talking to him. Another couple of thuds sounded, and this time, Sebastian could figure out that Draco must have been kicking the trunk at the end of Sebastian's bed to get his attention.

There was silence as he didn't respond.

"I dunno." Archie's voice, this time coming from the side, in what must have been a response to something Draco did that Sebastian couldn't see.

"Why not?"

"What do you mean _why not_?" Sebastian could hear the frustration as Archie whispered back. "I was at the table with you, how would I know what was wrong?"

"I meant, why haven't you found out yet?"

Sebastian almost laughed at the following silence. He could imagine the glares the two were giving each other, but it was only a momentary break in his mood. He closed his eyes, ready to pretend to be asleep if Archie did check on him, but Archie never did, and he must have fallen asleep because the next time he opened his eyes everything was silent and still.

He glanced at his watch, the seconds mocking him as they ticked slowly towards midnight. He scrunched his eyes up and buried his head in a pillow, trying to force himself back to sleep, but all he could think about was the three stupid Gryffindors who could be getting themselves killed right at that moment on the third floor and how no one else knew.

He should have told someone—stopped them from going—it would have been easy to pretend he was doing it to get them in trouble just like he had at Halloween. But even that was a pointless thought. Who would he have told other than Snape?

Sebastian knew Snape had been a Death Eater. He'd seen it a few dozens times in a memory he'd found in Hydras' old room before his mother had seen and confiscated it. He had no doubt that if it was the Dark Lord wanting the stone that it would be Snape helping him.

Sebastian sat bolt upright on his bed.

Snape.

That was it.

He slipped out of bed, thankful he'd been in too much of a foul mood the night before to bother getting changed, and pulled on his boots. Picking up his wand, he slowly pulled down on the latch to open the door, trying to be as quiet as possible as he made his way into the dark hallway.

If it was the Dark Lord wanting the stone, and Sebastian hoped it wasn't, then Snape would be helping him, and with Dumbledore gone, Snape wouldn't be in his office. But if Snape _was_ in his office, then it would mean he wasn't trying to steal the stone, and if Snape wasn't trying to steal the stone, then it wasn't the Dark Lord who wanted it, and there would be no reason for Sebastian to stay out of it.

The common room was empty as he navigated his way through the dark room, the stone entrance opening to let him through as he neared.

Even in the dark, it took him only seconds to get to the door to Snape's office. He took a deep breath, his imagination had him hearing his watch ticking away the seconds, but he hesitated. If Snape wasn't there…

He banged on the door as loudly as he could—trying to dispel the doubts from his mind. The seconds ticked by, and the silence in the corridor felt suffocating. He pounded on the door again.

He'd seen another door through Snape's office the previous times he'd been in there. He'd been so sure that was where Snape slept, but maybe it was just another store cupboard. He was only half aware he was making up any other scenario instead of the one in front of him. Panic was making his heart race, and he'd raised his arm to hit the door again when it suddenly opened.

Sebastian stumbled backwards.

Snape was looking at him as if he wanted to murder Sebastian, but Sebastian wasn't sure he'd ever felt happier to see his Head of House.

"What do you think-" Snape started, but Sebastian cut in. His words coming out in a rush.

"Longbottom's gone after the Philosophers Stone, Sir." Sebastian's words stopped Snape mid snarl. "They thought you were going to steal it for the Dark Lord because Dumbledore's gone. They've gone after it tonight."

Snape grabbed onto Sebastian's arm and dragged him inside the office.

"Who?" Snape said as he grabbed a cloak from behind his desk. "You said 'they'?"

"Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger." Hermione hadn't actually told him that, but he didn't think Snape cared or had time for maybes right now.

Sebastian watched as Snape cast a spell; wispy white clouds shot from the end of his wand and disappeared as he muttered something. As soon as he was done, he headed for the door, and Sebastian followed.

"You'll stay in this office-"

"No!" Sebastian tried not to wince at the look he received. "They think you're trying to steal the stone, Professor. They won't listen to you."

"I think I can handle three first years-"

Sebastian cut him off again, only vaguely aware of how much Snape was going to make him regret this. "Without risking somebody getting hurt? I don't know what kind of other monsters or enchantments there are after Fluffy, but I don't think you're going to have all that much time to convince them."

Snape narrowed his eyes and then turned on his heel and swept off down the corridor without another word to Sebastian.

Sebastian took that as permission to follow, though he made sure to stay out of Snape's way and not say anything lest he change his mind. A simple flick of Snape's wand and he'd have no choice but to be left behind.

The moving staircases all seemed to align for them, and they stepped into the third floor corridor what felt like only seconds after they'd taken off. If Sebastian didn't already know the feeling of being squeezed into apparition, he'd have thought that was how they'd gotten there so quickly.

As soon as they'd gone through the archway to the forbidden corridor, Snape spun around, locking Sebastian in his gaze. "You will stay behind me and do exactly as I tell you, do you understand?"

Sebastian nodded and was just about to say so when he noticed something strange. His face scrunched up in confusion.

"This is not the time for disobedience, Fitzroy!"

"What?" He focused back on Snape. "No. Sir, do you hear that?"

Snape straightened and turned towards the door at the end of the corridor. Now that Sebastian was looking directly at it, he could see it was ajar. A faint, tinkling melody seemed to be emanating from behind it. So out of place in this deserted corridor. Sebastian took his wand out the same moment that Snape did. The professor turned to him one last time, nodding slightly as he saw the wand out and ready.

"Stay behind me." Snape strode forward, pushing the door open and stepping into the room beyond.

When Sebastian crept in after him, he froze in place. Hermione had described the three-headed beast to him but seeing it in person was shocking. It was huge. Three large black heads with jaws full of teeth. The fact that it seemed to be sleeping soundly and drooling only lessened the impressiveness slightly in Sebastian's book.

While Sebastian had stood motionless, Snape had gone straight over to a harp, which was where the sound was coming from. He waved his wand over it a few times before moving over to where there was a trap door lying open by one of the dog's massive paws. Pointing his wand down the hole, Snape lit it. Sebastian flinched, raising his wand instinctively towards Fluffy, sure the bright light would wake him, but all the dog did was let out another long sleepy breath. His gums quivering and showing his sharp teeth again.

Snape extinguished his wand and gestured at Sebastian to come over. The dark hole in the floor loomed as Sebastian stepped up beside his teacher.

"I'm going to lower you down. Have your wand ready. The fire lighting charm should be enough to keep it off you long enough to get to safety."

Sebastian's question about what exactly he was supposed to be keeping off of him came out as a gasp as Snape's levitation charm picked him up and started to lower him down into the darkness. He strained his eyes to try to pick out his surroundings as he slowly sank, unwilling to light his wand before he needed to in case he attracted whatever was waiting towards him before it needed to be.

His heart jumped as his feet brushed against something soft. The spell holding him promptly dropped him before he had his feet sorted, and he fell forward onto his knees, only managing at the last second to not drop his hands down too. He'd need his wand free.

"Incendio," he whispered.

The dark floor beneath him writhed away from the light, and Sebastian jerked backwards, trying to get to his feet, but his legs were stuck. Spinning around to look, the ground moved with him, snake like, trying to dance away from his light. Snape's words caught up with him as he recognised the thick, black vines wrapped around his legs as Devil's Snare. He waved the wand near them, and they slithered away, releasing him.

He stood quickly, swallowing roughly. His throat was dry from the moments of panic. Keeping his wand down towards his feet to stop any more vines catching him, he made his way over to the nearest wall where there was a step upwards and out of the pit onto solid ground. Sebastian took it gratefully before letting the charm die.

A thud sounded from further out, and Sebastian saw a fire light from Snape's wand as the professor trudged towards him, brushing past him and on down a stone passageway that seemed to be the only way to go with barely a look at Sebastian.

Sebastian's eyes had adjusted to the darkness enough for him to see where he was going as the passageway sloped downwards. He could feel the dampness hanging in the air, and the soft dripping sound of water made him think of the lake and wonder exactly how far under the castle they were. The passageway seemed to be getting lighter, and a sound that reminded Sebastian of rushing wind started to echo around the stone walls as they came to a stone archway which gave way to a huge, brightly lit chamber full of some kind of mechanical birds.

Sebastian looked around as Snape came to a stop in the middle of the room. The ceiling was very high, huge arches meeting at points and descending into pillars, more arches linking each of the pillars obscured only by the flashing gold and silver of the mechanical birds as they flew around. His eyes drifted down to the other side of the room where a door sat closed. Sebastian frowned as he went over to it. Three broomsticks had been discarded next to it. Looking back the way he'd come, he saw a couple more up against the wall near the passage they'd just left.

His eyes were drawn back to Snape. The professor hadn't moved in the couple of seconds it had taken for Sebastian to take it all in,and he was still staring up at the birds with a look somewhere between disgust and resignation.

Only they weren't birds. Their bodies, while all different, all seemed to be too narrow for that. Sebastian's eyes fell back to the door as Snape moved towards the broomsticks.

"Wait!"

Snape straightened and turned.

Once Sebastian had realised what this obstacle was about, Snape's demeanour had made sense. He didn't want to get on a broomstick.

"I-I'm pretty good at flying, sir. Rubbish at Quidditch but-" He looked up at the keys flying round and round the pillars and arches. "Obstacle courses. They're kind of my thing."

Snape didn't move. Sebastian edged over to the brooms by the door. "They speed up." Snape hesitated, looking as if he were arguing with himself about something before he continued. "We need the large one with the broken wing."

Sebastian nodded, knocking a broom from the side and onto the floor in front of him with his foot. Even that small touch pushed the keys faster. They buzzed through the air, causing an almost deafening sound before calming down again.

Sebastian saw Snape tense, wand held tightly in his arm as he watched the keys. Sebastian took a deep breath and muttered, "Up!"

The broom shot into his hand, and he mounted it quickly, jumping off the ground as soon as he felt the wood under his palm.

He tuned out the noise and the feeling of Snape watching him intently and focused on the keys. They all seemed to be trying to get away, circling on the opposite side of the room to him.

He pulled the broom into a dive and swung around, flying between the pillars in a random order. The keys, confused by his constantly changing direction, were clumped in groups—some almost stationary as they tried to stay away.

He could see the key he needed. He was so used to flying around tree trunks on his own broom that he barely needed to focus on the pillars on this slower model as he followed it around.

The key was slower at turning left than the others due to the broken wing, so Sebastian swung outside it, forcing the key to try to rely on its broken side to get away. A grin spread across Sebastian's face as his hand came down to grab it.

And then everything changed.

The keys that had been trying to keep their distance suddenly turned. The ones that he'd been in amongst stabbed at him, sweeping along his arms, ripping at his robes and scratching at his skin, trying to get him to let go of their brother.

Sebastian brought his arm holding the key up to cover his face to try to protect himself from a hundred small stinging cuts. He barely had time to avoid a pillar as he came crashing down to the ground, jumping off the broomstick and landing heavily. He rolled onto his back, bringing his other arm up over his head.

It took him a second to realise the assault had stopped, and he peaked over his arm as he stumbled to his feet.

The keys had gone back to their calm circuits. All but the one still clutched in his hand, struggling feebly against his grip.

Snape's face was set in stone as Sebastian moved over to the door. He didn't trust himself to hand the key over to Snape without letting go of it too quickly, and he had enough cuts to know he didn't want to repeat that experience again.

The key slotted in the lock and turned with a loud click and Snape moved to stand next to him as the key slipped out of the open lock and flew laboriously away. Snape was gripping his wand so tightly that his knuckles were white, making Sebastian worry about what was coming up next, but Snape didn't make any move to open the door, so Sebastian did.

Pushing it slowly open and stepping through first.

The room he was walking into was pitch black. Stepping cautiously forward, he felt the ground underneath his feet change—uneven stone became a polished, smooth surface as he stepped forward. At the same moment, the room sprang to life.

Fire from sconces on the far walls lit the scene in front of him. Immense black stone figures towered over him, their onyx sheen reflecting the flickering light from the fires and making them seem to move. He could see white statues mirroring them, both were littered across the checkered floor.

A low groan coming from somewhere amid the mess of black and white pieces broke the silence. Snape strode past him, on to what Sebastian now recognised as a massive chessboard, towards the sound.

Ron was lying face down on the floor. By the looks of it, he'd stayed exactly where he'd fallen after being taken out by a chess piece.

Sebastian decided absently that it must have been the white queen that did it before focusing back on Ron. He had similar cuts to Sebastian. His arms and head were covered in them, but it was a wound on the side of his face that was bleeding that looked the worst. He looked pale against the trickle of red blood.

Snape was on the ground checking on a barely conscious Ron when the sound of doors opening from behind the white chess pieces echoed through the chamber.

Hermione squeaked as she came hurrying past a white piece and straight into the line of Snape's raised wand.

"It's fine!" Sebastian said quickly before Hermione had time to try to raise her wand. "He came to help."

"But he- but then who-" She glanced back the way she came.

"Where is Longbottom?" Snape said, getting up from where he had crouched next to Ron.

"He went through the fire- We thought- but -"

"Stay here."

But Snape had barely stepped forward when there was movement behind him. Dumbledore walked into the room, his midnight blue robes seeming to materialise out of the blackness.

He took one glance around the room before his gaze settled on Hermione, still standing looking lost in front of the doors. "Neville?"

"He went through to get the stone, Professor."

Dumbledore nodded his head so briefly that Sebastian nearly didn't see it. "Of course he did. Severus, if you would be so kind as to escort these three to Madam Pomfrey. I will deal with Quirinus."

The whole time Dumbledore had been talking, he'd been moving through the room. Snape had no time to reply before the headmaster was through the door.

"Mobilius Corpus." Ron's body, still only semi conscious, rose from the ground under Snape's wand.

"Come on," Sebastian said to Hermione, who looked torn about leaving before she knew Neville would be alright.

Sebastian grabbed her arm and dragged her forward. She was also covered in scratches from the keys, and Sebastian was very grateful as they passed through that room again that none of them would have to catch another key to exit.

Sebastian could hear the sound of the harp echoing faintly down to them as they reached the room with the devil's snare. Snape put Ron down at the side of the passage.

"You're going first," he said to Sebastian. "Make sure the harp doesn't go silent."

And again, before Sebastian could reply, he was being levitated into darkness, but this time he could make out a faint outline of the trapdoor getting bigger and bigger above him.

He wasn't normally afraid of heights, but as soon as he drew level with the trapdoor, he clung to the sides and scrambled over, terrified of trusting Snape not to let go a second too soon like he had done on the way down. The drop would be much, much further this time. He froze as soon as he was safe, thinking for a horrible second that the harp had stopped and Fluffy was staring down at his next meal, but as Sebastian focused on something other than his heart rate, he could hear the faint melody was still going on.

He slipped across to where it was sitting, but he needn't have worried. One by one the others appeared through the trapdoor. Hermione first then Ron, who was now more awake, and finally Snape, who ushered them out of the door as soon as his feet touched solid ground and closed it firmly behind him.

"Why is _he_ here?" he heard Ron mutter to Hermione as they walked back out to the staircase and down the steps.

"He went to get Snape."

"And why is Snape here? Wasn't he suppose to be the one stealing the stone for You-Know-Who?"

"Dumbledore said it was Quirrell."

"Quirrell?"

"You are aware that I can hear your inane mutterings?" Snape said as they crossed into another staircase and up to the other side of the third floor.

"Professor," Hermione said, "if–if Quirrell got to the stone, will You-Know-Who-" She trailed off, looking worriedly at Ron.

Snape didn't reply, but his jaw tightened.

Sebastian stopped.

He'd been so relieved when Snape had been in his office that he'd dismissed any thought of the Dark Lord being involved. He would have scoffed at Hermione's question, thinking it was obvious Quirrell was working alone, but Snape's reaction had Sebastian's heart dropping.

"Seb?" Hermione said as she turned back to him. Snape had stopped now too and was watching him.

"Quirrell didn't want the stone for himself, did he, sir?"

Snape said nothing. But Sebastian didn't need him to. He wasn't expecting him to confirm what was going on to a bunch of kids, he'd ignored Hermione's question after all, but the fact he didn't refute it was enough.

"I think I'm going to go back to the common room now," he said, not taking his eyes off Snape.

Snape seemed to understand straight away, and he nodded, walking back towards Sebastian. Snape's wand waved in front of his face, and Sebastian felt his face and hands sting as the skin started to mend itself.

"Straight there, Fitzroy," Snape said once it was done. "And I don't need to tell you to keep your mouth shut."

"No, sir."

Snape turned on his heel and continued down the hall towards the hospital wing.

"Seb?" Hermione said quietly.

Sebastian saw Ron look between the two of them and frown. He turned and walked away from them without another word.

"Come on," Ron muttered, pulling at Hermione's arm. Sebastian heard Ron say something about Slytherin and a nasty family, but they were quickly out of earshot as they walked in opposite directions.

The castle ghosts and Peeves were all absent as Sebastian made his way down the steps. He was almost surprised to arrive back in the Slytherin Common Room without incident.

The door to his dorm was still hanging slightly ajar from when he'd left, not wanting to risk making a noise by closing it fully, and inside was still dark and silent.

He pulled his boots off quietly, followed by his ruined robes. What seemed like a thousand small cuts in the fabric from the keys translated to lots of small stinging cuts all over his body. Snape had healed the ones on his face and hands, ensuring he could pull on robes to cover the rest and go to classes as normal tomorrow without anyone realising he had anything to do with what had happened, but they still stung as he pulled the covers around him.

Closing the hangings and lying in the darkness listening to the breathing of the other boys, he hoped desperately that when they all woke up tomorrow the world wouldn't have changed and Dumbledore had gotten there in time.

* * *

 **AN: First year is almost finished! Only one chapter left. But don't worry I already have a fair few chapters of second year written so there won't be any long breaks.**

 **If you're reading and enjoying please do let me know, leaving a comment or liking/following really makes my day.**


	18. Chapter 18 - The End of Year Feast

**Last chapter of First Year!**

* * *

Sebastian came to awareness quickly the next day. The sound of doors opening and closing told him that the others were already awake and moving about.

Archie, who was still bleary eyed from sleep, was the only one in the dorm when Sebastian slipped out from behind his hangings and into the room to grab a fresh set of robes. He pulled them on over his head to cover himself as quickly as he could, but it wasn't quickly enough.

"What happened to you?" Archie asked just as the bathroom door opened and Draco came back into the room.

"What happened to who?"

Sebastian shook his head quickly at Archie, who raised his eyebrow but said, "Nothing," at the same time Sebastian said, "No one."

Draco narrowed his eyes at the both of them. "I was asking what was wrong yesterday," Archie said as he got up and walked past Draco to the bathroom.

"And?"

"I had a headache," Sebastian said. "Sorry about dinner."

Draco shrugged. A knock at the door interrupted whatever he was about to say. The door opened slowly, admitting the short bulky frame and long face of a seventh-year prefect.

Anthony Rowle glanced around before his gaze landed on Sebastian. "Professor Snape wants you in his office before breakfast."

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute."

The prefect didn't move, only narrowed his eyes and did an admirable job of looking down his bent nose at Sebastian. For a Rowle, anyway. "He's waiting for you."

"He heard you, _Rowle,_ " Draco sneered the name, obviously thinking along the same lines as Sebastian and was completely unconcerned by the glare the prefect shot his way.

"Thanks," Sebastian said, bringing Rowle's attention back to him rather than the condescending tone Draco had used. He was too tired to watch them posture this early in the morning after he hadn't gotten much sleep. The seventh year nodded, accepting the chance to back down before retreating and closing the door behind him.

"Who was that?" Archie asked, coming back into the room.

"Rowle," Draco said in answer. "What does Snape want you for?" he asked Sebastian.

"I don't know," Sebastian said, though he could guess. "I haven't spoken to him yet, have I?"

Once he was dressed, he made his way up to Snape's office, his stomach doing flips at what news he'd find. He heard voices as he came to the door but knocked anyway. Students were already making their way up to the Great Hall, and Rowle had said Snape wanted to see him before breakfast.

Sebastian only had to wait a few seconds before the door was pulled open and he was ushered in by Snape. There was no one else in the room, so whoever it was must have been using the floo. That realisation only made Sebastian more nervous as he watched Snape get some vials from a cabinet.

"Hold out your hands," Snape said as he placed a small glass pot on his desk.

Sebastian frowned but did as he was told, holding out his arms in front of him. He was getting rather use to Snape not giving any explanations.

Snape came over and pushed the left sleeve of Sebastian's robes up to his elbow, exposing more of the cuts from last night, waving his wand and muttering a spell much like he had the night before to heal them. As soon as the cuts that had made their way up Sebastian's arm had faded and disappeared, Snape moved onto the right arm.

"This is for the rest," Snape said, handing him the small glass pot that he'd placed on his desk. A salve to get rid of the cuts on his chest that Archie had seen when he was dressing. "I am right in assuming you want your name to stay out of this?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very well, twenty house points to Slytherin. Miss Granger and Mr Weasley have already been instructed not to mention your involvement. It goes without saying you'll be expected to do the same and to not draw attention to yourself."

"Yes, sir."

"Which means," Snape said slowly, " _not_ being late for breakfast."

"Yes, sir." Sebastian hid a smile and turned to leave, but as he got to the door, he turned back. "Sir? Quirrell. Did he get the stone?"

"No."

Sebastian nodded, breathing a sigh of relief as he slipped out of Snape's office and into the trickle of students making their way up to the Great Hall.

Snape watched as the door closed after Sebastian. Seconds later, his fireplace flared for what seemed the tenth time that morning.

"Severus?" Snape turned back to the fireplace to see Dumbledore watching him. "Have you spoken to-"

"Yes, it is as I said. He wishes to be kept out of this."

Dumbledore frowned. "Very well, it is a shame to keep the best of our deeds hidden, but I will follow your lead on this."

Dumbledore watched him a moment longer, a sad expression on his face before nodding and disappearing from the fire. The green flame winked out and left the room seeming darker and somehow colder than before.

...

* * *

,,,

It seemed to Sebastian that there were a lot more students in the entrance hall than there usually were as he pushed through a throng of older Slytherins. Normally people went straight into breakfast with only a handful hanging back for whatever reason, but today half the school was gathered in small groups throughout the hall, looking over their shoulders and whispering. It only took Sebastian a moment to spot why.

Three aurors were standing in a huddle by the open doors to the grounds, seemingly unaware of the audience they had drawn. Their irregular robes stood out against the black clad Hogwarts students. Sebastian vaguely recognised two of them, but there was no mistaking Mad Eye. His magical eye swivelled in it's socket, following the movement of the students around the hall. Sebastian couldn't help diverting his eyes as it landed on him. Returning Mad Eyes gaze seemed a bit too much like drawing attention to himself, and he suddenly felt very aware of the scratches under his robes. There was no knowing exactly how much that magical eye could see.

Sebastian managed to navigate his way through the gossiping students into the Great Hall, which seemed louder than normal even though it was only half full. Students were leaning over each other in excitement and glancing back out the doors.

Archie made a space for him at the head of the Slytherin table by shoving over a boy from the year above. Most people were crowded in at the end of the table rather than spread out. It was easier to gossip that way Sebastian guessed as he sat down.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"There are aurors outside, did you see?" Theo said as Miles and Adrian, who had been sitting a little further down the table, came over to them.

"Any news?"

"Father hasn't written back yet." There was an ink pot and quill still sitting on the table by Draco in-between the toast and pastries.

"I was asking Fitzroy," Adrian said, earning a scowl off Draco, who snapped, "He's been dead to the world since last night, he doesn't know anything."

"You were with Snape just now though, right?"

Sebastian nodded. "Yeah. He didn't mention anything to me though."

"What did he want anyway?" Archie asked as they walked away.

"He gave me a headache potion."

A surprised look crossed Draco's face as he asked, "How did he know you had a headache?"

Sebastian shrugged. "Archie must have told him."

Archie opened his mouth to refute it but closed it again quickly. Sebastian could see his mind ticking over as their eyes met. He trusted Archie too much to worry about him saying anything.

"I was worried," Archie said eventually. "You were worried too, _Malfoy_."

Talk turned back to the aurors, and Sebastian learned from the others that neither Dumbledore, Snape nor Quirrell had turned up to breakfast so far. Dumbledore had been seen talking to the aurors, but neither of the other two had been seen.

"Snape's out of the running now as he was with you," Daphne was saying. "But, it has to have something to do with Quirrell."

At that moment, Pansy ran up to the table and slipped in beside her, forcing Theo to move over. "Guess what I've just heard?" she said, her eyes bright with excitement. "Neville Longbottom and one of the Weasleys are in the hospital wing. Have been since last night when they were in an altercation with Professor Quirrell."

"An altercation?" Draco said.

"Yes, Draco."

"What you mean is you have no idea what happened either, do you?"

"I know more than you do!"

"Father hasn't written back yet!"

Draco's father didn't write back all through breakfast, and he was in a very bad mood as they went off to their lessons. Sebastian had only been able to nibble at a piece of toast over breakfast from the nerves. Every time some new piece of information came out, he was sure his name would be mentioned, but it wasn't.

As they shared lessons with the other houses, more and more information came to light. They heard off the Ravenclaws that Quirrell had been trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, which Dumbledore had been keeping safe. And later, from the Hufflepuffs, they heard that Longbottom and his friends had found out and tried to stop him.

Draco got a rather cryptic owl from his father at lunch telling him to stay out of all of this business, which ended in Draco and Blaise having an argument at the Slytherin table. Archie used the opportunity to drag Sebastian outside.

Once they were clear of the double doors and the watchful eyes of their peers, Archie spun around to face him. "Explain."

So Sebastian did.

He told Archie everything, from finding out about Fluffy and the Philosopher's Stone to the Thing in the forest to why he'd been in a bad mood at dinner the previous night. They stayed outside as everyone else made their way to lessons as Sebastian told him about deciding to get Snape and everything that had happened after they'd gone through the trapdoor.

"So, it was really _him_?" Archie asked faintly. Sebastian shot him an exasperated look. "Right, you don't know for sure but... Merlin." Archie shook his head as they lapsed into silence.

"Dumbledore stopped him. He must have done," Archie said after a while, suddenly sounding much more sure. Any trace of worry was gone from his voice. He smiled over at Sebastian. "Reckon there'd be a fair few more aurors about if he'd made it back."

They stayed sitting outside until they saw that students were moving to their next lessons.

Ron and Neville returned to lessons the next day, and Sebastian spent the time trying to avoid them as much as possible. It wasn't difficult to do, every lesson and meal time they seemed to be surrounded by admirers wanting to hear what had happened even though the whole school knew by then.

Sebastian wasn't sure what Snape had done to make sure his name didn't come up, but they didn't seem to be bringing him into anything that happened. It wasn't like Neville had even seen him, although by the sound of it he'd come across the cursed mirror they'd both seen over the Christmas holidays. A small part of Sebastian was jealous over that, but he wiped it from his mind as lessons on Friday finally finished.

The school year was over.

The clamour in the Great Hall that night over dinner was deafening. Even at the Slytherin table they were having to almost shout to hear each other over the noise. They still had the weekend before they would catch the Hogwarts Express on Monday morning, but it seemed that, with lessons finishing, all anyone wanted to talk about was their plans for the summer.

Sebastian almost forgot that there was a Quidditch match on Saturday. With Slytherin not involved and the Quidditch cup almost certainly going to Hufflepuff, going to the match seemed like an afterthought.

There was a party atmosphere in the stands, and most people were only half watching. Without Lee Jordan's commentary, Sebastian wasn't sure he'd have followed anything. Matt and some of his Ravenclaw friends had joined them. Sebastian supposed Edgar was off with his housemates; there was a whole stand bathed in yellow and black Hufflepuff colours. They all seemed to have congregated in one place, so they could celebrate once Madam Hooch blew the final whistle.

And celebrate they did.

Gryffindor managing to win the match wasn't enough to win the cup, and even with the stands having been reinforced with magic, Sebastian could still feel the vibrations throbbing through the wood as the Hufflepuff section jumped up and down.

They spent the rest of the afternoon on the grounds playing bludger with a few other students. Sebastian was just wondering where Draco had disappeared to as he dodged out of the way as Rory tried to grab Daphne, who was giggling as she slipped sideways out of his reach at the last second. Rory switched targets and went barrelling after Matt only to be foiled again as Matt put a tree between himself and Rory. Only the smell of food wafting out of the castle doors was enough to get them to eventually stop playing.

Sunday was their last day at Hogwarts. And when Sebastian walked back to the dorm with Draco after lunch, they were greeted with Archie's stuff strewn over the floor, with Archie nowhere in sight. His wardrobe doors were hanging open and, like his trunk that was sitting open on the floor, it was empty. A few piles of clothes and books were stacked haphazardly around it, but otherwise random objects and rubbish were littering the floor.

Draco made a disparaging noise as he picked his way through the mess to get to his bed, knocking a pair of socks that didn't look very clean out of his way. "I think he's actually managed to grow mold on them," Draco said just as Archie appeared out of the bathroom. "Clean up your stuff, Lestrange."

"I'm packing."

"You call this packing?"

Archie didn't reply, choosing to ignore Draco instead as he sat down on the floor in front of his trunk again. Sebastian picked up the rubbish bin from the side of the room and put it down carefully in a gap next to Archie.

"Thanks," he said, dumping a bunch of parchment and, to Sebastian's amusement, an odd sock into it. "It won't all fit back in."

"Maybe you shouldn't have taken it all out?" Draco's voice floated over from his bed.

"It has to, Archie. You haven't gotten more stuff. How'd you fit it in last time?"

"I didn't." Archie looked up and saw Sebastian's raised eyebrows. "Margaret did it."

"Ah, of course she did." Sebastian could just imagine Archie's aunt getting fed up of his attempts and taking over. "She do Matt's too?" he said, smiling.

"No, Matt was packed at least a month before."

By the time they went up for the end of year feast Archie was mostly packed, which Sebastian thought was little more than a miracle. He'd been on the verge of finding a prefect to cast a few shrinking charms on Archie's stuff.

Unlike dinner most nights, the end of year feast was to start at seven o'clock, which meant when they got to the entrance hall it was busier than normal. The doors were still locked as they milled around the entrance hall.

"We've won," Blaise said, pointing over at the hourglasses. "Look."

The emeralds sitting in the Slytherin hourglass were standing tall against all of the other houses'.

"Not yet," Archie said. "There's still time for you to annoy McGonagall enough to be docked points."

An uneasy laugh went around them as they watched Filch, his keys jingling in his hand, make his way through the students. Even from their distance away, Sebastian could tell he was grumbling under his breath. The students split to let him through, their eagerness to get inside to the feast made his passage easier than it normally would have.

The doors unlocked with a click and opened wide, forcing Filch to battle back through the onrush of students, but Sebastian wasn't looking at him anymore. His eyes had drifted behind the caretaker. The hall was hung with banners in green and silver, a huge green serpent adorned the back wall above the staff table.

They'd won the house cup.

Sebastian spared a last look over at the hourglass. They were 38 points up on Hufflepuff. Twenty of those were the points Snape had given him the other morning, though he'd never tell anyone that, but he couldn't help the grin he wore as he sat down in-between Archie and Daphne at the table.

Memories of the first time he'd sat down at this table at the start of the year flooded him as he looked along the Slytherin table. Golden plates and goblets set in front of every place, but they were otherwise bare, waiting for Dumbledore's order before the food filled the dishes. Sebastian looked over at Archie only to see him already grinning back at him.

A hush went over the students as Dumbledore walked to his seat at the centre of the staff table, his golden throne sitting back from the table allowing him to stand in place ready for him to make his speech.

"Another year gone!" he started, smiling, "and I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are all a little fuller than they were... You have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts."

There was a spattering of laughter before Dumbledore continued. "Now, as I understand it, the House Cup needs awarding and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor with two hundred and eighty points; in third Ravenclaw with three hundred and seventy two points; Hufflepuff, with four hundred and thirty four and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy two."

A cacophony of sound blew up around Sebastian. Slytherin students were cheering, banging on plates and generally making as much noise as possible. Sebastian laughed aloud as he saw Draco and Archie had grabbed their goblets and were banging them on the table.

"Yes, yes, well done Slytherin," Dumbledore said through the noise. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

Sebastian's grin slid off his face. He could see the smiles on the Slytherin faces around him changing to frowns as they looked over at Dumbledore. The room was silent waiting for his next words.

"I have a few last minute points to hand out. Let me see…

"To Mr Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

Cheers from the Gryffindor table drowned out the whispering that had broken out all over the hall. Sebastian heard Draco's whispered, "He can't do this!" before Dumbledore continued.

"Second- to Miss Hermione Granger for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award sixty points."

There were more cheers and angry mutterings at the respective tables. Sebastian could see a few of the students around him furiously trying to work out the standings while others looked on anxiously or in Crabbe's and Goyle's cases gormlessly. But Sebastian was barely paying attention. Panic descended around his senses as he desperately hoped his name wasn't about to come up. He cast his eyes over to where Snape was sitting at the staff table. His back straight, posture stiff with tension, but he wasn't meeting Sebastian's eyes.

"To Mr Neville Longbottom. For outstanding courage and bravery in the face of the unknown, I award seventy points."

The roar this time was deafening, and it wasn't just coming from the Gryffindor table where Ron, Hermione and Neville were getting swamped by their housemates, but from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables too as everyone worked out that Gryffindor had overtaken Slytherin by one point.

The mutterings around Sebastian had stopped, and the Slytherin table was silent as they looked around at each other. Sebastian didn't think he'd ever felt more guilty for wanting his name to not come up. He could feel Archie's gaze on him, but thankfully, the other boy was silent.

Sebastian looked up at the staff table again. Snape was shaking hands with McGonagall, a grimace clear in his face. Sebastian's eyes flicked across to where Dumbledore was, only to find the headmaster watching him. There seemed to be a question in his expression, but Sebastian looked away quickly, shaking his head.

"Which means, a change of decoration is in order." Dumbledore had to shout to be heard over the cheering. He raised his hands high over his head and clapped twice.

The great serpent on the wall behind him vanished, quickly replaced by a massive lion. The hangings and banners all through the hall were changing. Slytherin green and silver were wiped out and replaced with red and gold.

Sebastian's gaze swept across the rest of the hall where people were still celebrating around the Gryffindor table.

On the other side of the hall, Hermione was only starting to get her emotions back under control. She, Ron, and Neville were still being congratulated by everyone.

"Look at their faces!" Ron said, nudging her and Neville, having to shout over the din to be heard.

Hermione looked over to where he had nodded. Through all the bodies she could see the Slytherin table, sitting still and silent. Shocked expressions writ clear on their faces. At any other time, she would have laughed at the look on Draco's face, but her eyes met Sebastian's and she frowned instead as he looked away from her. She glanced back up at Dumbledore, who was sitting back smiling as he watched them celebrate their win, but she suddenly didn't feel as happy as she had moments before. She found her seat in amidst all of the commotion and sat down quietly, thinking.

The rest of the feast passed quickly and, for the most part, quietly at the Slytherin table. Still reeling from having the house championship taken away from them at the last second, no one had really been in much of a mood to make small talk.

Before they knew it, they were back in their rooms staring at empty wardrobes and sorting out last minute things for the Hogwarts Express the next morning.

Exam results were handed out at breakfast (even Crabbe and Goyle had managed to pass what they needed to) along with reminders to not use magic over the holidays. Sebastian thought their room felt awfully bare, only their packed trunks left standing at the foot of each bed for the house elves to deal with. There was something horrible about the emptiness. It reminded him of empty rooms and empty houses. Missing people. He closed the door behind him firmly, jogging to catch up with the others as they left and made their way out of the common room for the last time that year.

Hagrid was waiting in the entrance hall for all the first years, leading them back down the same path towards the boats that they came in by. Sebastian looked back at the castle as the boat he, Archie and Rory were in glided forward towards Hogsmeade. It looked so different in the morning sunshine than it had against the stars that first night. Even the boats they were in seemed a lot smaller.

Soon they were back amongst the rest of the students shoving into carriages and compartments. The whistle gave them a warning before the train started to pull away.

Sebastian sat down across from Archie as the train juddered into motion.

"Well, we survived first year then," Edgar said as he appeared in the doorway. He smiled as he closed the door and sat down next to Sebastian.

"Worried you wouldn't, Edgar?" Archie asked.

"With you around? Definitely."

"We're all still friends, that's something," Matt said.

Archie snorted. "No it's not, we were always going to be friends at the end of the year, you idiot."

He ribbed his little brother with his elbow as the others laughed, the countryside streaming away outside the window. Muggle towns passed by as they devoured sweets and chocolates from the trolley.

The journey was a lot busier than it had been in September, with each of them leaving to see other friends and others joining them here and there. Edgar and Matt were both off checking in with friends, exchanging addresses and promising to owl when the towns started to build up more quickly, the edges of London shoving out into the green fields.

"Astoria waiting for you?" Archie asked.

"No. She'll be at St Mongos." Sebastian tried to smile to show it didn't bother him, though he suspected Archie saw through it. Archie frowned as he finished stuffing his bag with all the things that had escaped during the journey. "Are we taking you home then?" he asked. "Margaret never said."

"It'll be Keaper."

"Oh, right." Sebastian could see Archie was struggling to find something to say when the door opened and Edgar walked in.

He frowned straight away, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sebastian said, chuckling. "You reckon your parents will have remembered to come and pick you up, Edgar?"

He laughed as he took his seat. "Yeah, they said they wouldn't miss it."

Sebastian felt Archie shoot him another look as a voice echoed through the train announcing their arrival at King's Cross. Matt slipped into their compartment just as doors all along the train were being thrown open, students pushing out onto the platform to meet with families as the train came to a stop. The air filled with happy shouts as parents and siblings were reunited.

The corridor was starting to empty by the time they'd all grabbed their things. They said their goodbyes quickly in the compartment, Edgar slipping out the door first, eager to find his parents, followed by Archie and Matt.

Sebastian threw his bag over his shoulder and smoothed down his robes. He turned to Ava, who was watching him quietly, and lifted up her cage. "Just us left, girl," he said, trying not to think of the empty manor he was returning to.

A blur of curly blond hair streaked past the carriage window as Sebastian saw Edgar throw himself at his parents, who had indeed remembered to pick him up. He saw Draco greet his father with a small nod of the head before they disappeared. The platform outside was clearing by the minute, so he turned to the doors and stepped out, narrowly avoiding colliding with an older student who had run back into the train having obviously forgotten something. A shouted apology followed him as he stepped down onto the platform trying to calm Ava down from being swung violently sideways.

Keaper would probably be standing at the back against the wall somewhere out of the way, so Sebastian started forward to look for her. The crowds were thinning, some moving down the platform towards the barrier others disapparating on the spot.

Sebastian had to shift sideways quickly as a large family pushed their trolleys into his path. He was so focused on glaring at their backs that it took him a moment to look past where they had been standing.

Astoria was standing by the back wall, black hair pulled to the side exposing the bare side of her head. A golden laurel sat at her parting, holding her hair away from the scars there. She was wearing her most pointy robes, angled cuffs, sharp shoulders, stiff collar, the whole effect would have been overwhelmingly imposing to anyone who had seen her just moments before, but her face was lit with a smile as her eyes met Sebastian's.

He'd come to a standstill with a shocked look on his face the moment he'd seen her, but as their eyes met, he grinned back and did everything he could not to run to close the gap between them. He walked as quickly as he dignifiedly could, coming to a stop in front of her.

Astoria grabbed him into a crushing hug that lasted all of two seconds before she straightened up, hands flattening her robes as she glanced around to see if anyone was watching.

"Welcome back," she said as she took Ava's cage from him.

"I missed you too, Story," he said, still smiling.

She extended her arm between them, and Sebastian took it, holding tightly onto her wrist as the world shifted, squeezing them both away from King's Cross.

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 **AN: It's done! If you are enjoying the story please to leave my a review and let me know what you think. They really make a difference.**

 **Year two will be following directly on. I'm already a fair few chapters into it so I'll be keeping to my one update a month schedule without a wait.**


	19. Chapter 19 - Ginny

**AN: Here's chapter 1 of chamber of secrets! In keeping with prologues in HP tending to be from someone elses point of view, here's Ginny's perspective. Thank you to everyone who commented and has been reading so far.**

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Ginny was sitting at the kitchen table roughly buttering the piece of toast in her hand before sticking her knife in the jam jar and smearing it across the crunchy bread. She was fed up. It was another morning of waiting. One more morning after years of it shouldn't be hard, but this morning she wasn't taking it well. She'd been so sure when she'd woken up that today would be the day that the others would finally get their school supply lists from Hogwarts and they could finally go to Diagon Alley.

She'd gotten her owl over a month ago now asking them to confirm her place for the coming year, and she'd been so excited at the idea of getting her wand. But her mother had said they'd have to wait. There was no point making the trip to get her school supplies until the others knew what they needed too. So she waited.

The owls for older students always came in the first week of August. August had only started yesterday, but that hadn't stopped her from hoping that this year, this year they'd come early. Because this year was special. This year was the year she got to go to Hogwarts.

Every time an owl had arrived for about a week now, Ginny's hopes had soared. But either it had been Errol, which was normally obvious rather quickly as he crashed into the milk jug or even before that if he failed to get through the open window, a letter arriving for Percy from Hermes, or the Daily Prophet. Ginny spared a look over at her older brother, a scowl on her face. He was reading another mysterious letter, and that was the reason for her bad mood. An owl had appeared that morning as they'd all sat down for breakfast. Her mother had still been dishing up plates for the table as the five of them had sat down, her father had already been there reading yesterday's Daily Prophet, when the owl had arrived.

Ginny had nearly jumped out of her seat in excitement, but the dour looking bird had gone straight to Percy to drop the letter off before leaving again. Letters from Hogwarts always came in the morning. No supplies list at breakfast meant another day of waiting.

Across from her, Fred and George were whispering under their breaths about something or other, and Ginny would normally be trying to find out what, but today she just didn't care. She didn't care about anything right now as she shoved her toast around her plate, mopping up some gooey egg yolk. She just wanted her wand.

As soon as she'd thought the words, she heard a screech from outside and a beautiful looking barn owl swooped in the window. It was majestic, and Ginny couldn't think of a better owl to deliver official Hogwarts letters. It landed gracefully between Fred and George, and Ginny was certain this was it. Their supplies list had finally come.

She was just thinking of how to word her argument to convince her mum that they had to go to Diagon Alley today when Fred detached the single envelope from the bird's leg, pulling out an expensive looking piece of thick white card as the bird hopped up to perch on his shoulder.

The owl seemed to know the twins already, and a single piece of card was definitely not from Hogwarts. Ginny slumped in her chair, throwing the half eaten piece of toast back on her plate. Life was so unfair.

"We aren't doing anything on Wednesday, right, Mum?" George asked after muttering something to Fred. Ginny frowned, her interest peaking slightly.

"No, dear," was the reply. Their mum wasn't watching them, concerning herself with cleaning the breakfast away, but if she had been, she'd have seen the look the twins shared and been much more alert.

"So, it's fine if we go to a friend's house, then? This Wednesday," George said, making doubly sure.

Ginny saw the innocent look that crossed his face as their mum turned around. In her opinion, that was more of a dead giveaway that something was going on than when the twins looked guilty, but for whatever reason their mum didn't pick up on it.

Ron was also watching them now, though Percy was still engrossed in whatever letter he was rereading. Ginny had been trying to find out what all the serious letters had been about, but so far she'd had no luck, and right now there were more interesting things afoot.

"That'll be nice," their mum said, nodding. "So long as you behave yourselves. If I get any complaints-" She left the threat hanging as she picked up the empty food dishes from the table. "Ask if it's okay for you to floo to Lee's, won't you?"

The twins looked quickly at each other. "I know you always do, but best to check."

"Lee's in Europe," Fred blurted out, and Ginny felt the table bump as George kicked him.

"Well, whose house are you going to?" Ginny could hear the exasperation in her mother's voice, but there was mild amusement there too as she picked up the plate from in front of her husband. Their mum was in a good mood as usual, but Ginny was almost certain that it wasn't going to last long. It never did when the twins were planning something. Ron was thinking exactly the same thing; they'd both edged to the other side of their seats to get out of her firing line. So she was almost in Ron's lap when George spoke again.

"Sebastian Fitzroy," he said.

The sound of a plate smashing on the floor on one side of Ginny was matched only by Ron's shout of "WHAT?" from her other.

Both her father and Percy had looked up at the commotion, and Ginny wasn't sure where to settle her gaze. She knew the twins had made friends with a boy called Sebastian. They'd told her all about the Christmas prank they'd pulled and how he'd covered for them when McGonagall had arrived. They'd also told her about how he'd pranked them over the holidays, turning their hair bright pink. Ron had cut in and told her that he was horrible and pointed out that he'd been the boy they'd seen pushing in front of them at the platform barrier, which wasn't strictly true. She remembered complaining to Mum about not getting to go to Hogwarts and so the boy had gone on ahead while they were standing still. But what she also now remembered was the reaction Mum had had when she'd seen him.

"No," their mum said now.

"No, what?" Fred said. If he'd had any sense, he'd have kept his mouth shut.

"No, you are not going." Their mum's voice wavered, fighting to keep control.

"But you just said-"

"YOU ARE NOT GOING INTO THAT HOUSE!"

There was a beat of silence before everyone spoke at once.

"What house?"

"Why?"

"What's wrong with his house?"

But their mum didn't look like answering any of them.

"Molly, dear-" It was the first thing their dad had said, and Ginny watched as their mum took a deep breath and turned away.

"Well," Percy cut in, speaking up for the first time. "I, for one, think fostering a relationship with a Fitzroy could only be in the interest-"

"Shut up!" Ginny's eyes went wide and everyone froze at their mum's scream.

Percy had tensed at the shout, he was never on the end of their mums anger, on the rare occasions she got this flustered it was always because the twins had done something really bad. Ginny didn't understand why their mum was so upset. But Percy wasn't taking it well. His shoulders were rigid, his long fingers picking up his letter carefully.

"Percy," the remorse in their mum's face was clear, " I'm sorry, dear."

But Percy didn't look up as he folded the note and stood up. "I have work to do," he said, taking his leave.

Their mum's hands fluttered for a moment before coming to rest in a tea towel that had been hooked over her apron strings at her waist. Her gaze was locked on the corridor Percy had disappeared down.

"Dad?" George asked quietly as if, with Mum's distraction, she wouldn't hear. Ginny sucked in her breath. She had to give George points for bravery, but he was about to lose them for stupidity.

Their mum's gaze focused directly on him, and George wilted. But when the tirade came, it wasn't aimed at him.

"Get that owl out of my kitchen!"

"What-" Fred raised his arm almost protectively in front of it. Ginny wasn't sure why she'd turned her anger on the owl. She had no idea what was happening, she'd never seen her mum like this and she hated not knowing what was going on.

"I don't want it here."

"Molly, darling. You're overreacting just a little." Ginny could imagine the fury in her mother's eyes for being talked back to as she turned to look at him, but their dad kept speaking. "It's just an owl."

He turned to the twins and glanced over at the nearly empty plates in front of her and Ron. "Ah, good. You're all done. I'm sure you have other things to do."

Ginny didn't need telling twice and led the exodus from the table. Fred took an extra moment to lean the card that had caused all the fuss up against their dad's cup as he followed them into the corridor. As soon as they were all through the door, they pulled it to behind them, leaving it slightly ajar as the four of them crowded around behind it to hear what was being said.

"I won't let them go," their mum was saying, the stage whisper she was using carried easily to their ears. Their father's voice was quieter, but Ginny could hear if she edged a little closer to the door.

"It's not like-"

"No, Arthur, you know about that house. The whole weight of the Ministry can't break down those wards. Everyone knew Hydrus Fitzroy was a Death Eater, long before he killed my-" her voice tailed off before coming back stronger, "Everyone knew but no one ever even tried to search it!"

Ginny frowned. 'Death Eater', she mouthed the funny words at Ron, but he shrugged and went back to listening.

"I'm sure that had more to do with Lycorus being head of-"

"I won't have them go into that house and have no way of getting them out again."

"This Sebastian boy is in Ron's year," he said after a moment, obviously trying a different tack. "Don't you think-"

There was a sigh and the sound of a chair scraping, and Ginny assumed their mum had sat down. "I don't have anything against the child," she said, her voice so soft that Ginny could barely hear it. "Poor boy, losing both of his parents like he did, but I will not let them go into that house, Arthur."

Ginny knew there wouldn't be any arguing with the tone she ended with, and there was silence for a moment.

Wings flapping inches from Ginny's face made her stumble backwards, she only just managed to stifle her gasp and catch herself as she trod on Ron's toes.

The owl was still perched on Fred's shoulder. She hadn't even realised it had come with them. It seemed to be bristling, stretching to its full height at the sound of someone picking up the letter, the sound of the envelope crinkling was clear.

It was pivoting its heart shaped face between Fred and George, who were making desperate hushing motions at it. It must have realised someone who hadn't been the intended recipient was reading the letter it was meant to deliver, and Ginny had to marvel at how clever the owl was.

"It says it's his birthday. Perhaps the boys could invite him here instead first," their dad was saying. "That way the boys get to see their friend and you can-"

Ron hadn't been able to stop the noise that left his throat then, but he hadn't tried. He was grabbing for the door handle, the twins a step too late to stop him as he barged into the kitchen.

"I don't want him here!" he said. "He's a git, _and_ he's a Slytherin-"

"Ronald Weasley!" Ginny, Fred and George had followed him in but hung a step back as their mother's furious eyes turned to him. "That child has been through things you couldn't even imagine. He is your brothers' friend, whether or not he is a Slytherin doesn't come into it. I did not raise you to spout prejudice!"

"But-" Ron quickly shut his mouth at the look their mother gave him. "Then I want to invite my friends too."

"Fine," she said, then glanced at the twins. "You can invite Lee too."

"He's in Europe, Mum," Fred said, his tone not exactly what Ginny would have used right this moment. "For the champions cup match, remember?"

"Oh, well - ah Percy!" Percy had just come into the kitchen behind them, and he looked momentarily startled as they all turned their gazes to him. "You can invite some friends too."

Fred snorted rather unkindly, bringing their mother's ire back onto him. George quickly cut in before she said anything. "When, Mum? We should write him back."

"I think- Saturday. Yes, Saturday will be perfect."

"Saturday? But the invite's for Wednesday!"

Their mum ignored this latest outburst. "Why don't you all write your friends, and if it's a nice day on Saturday we can eat outside."

"And play Quidditch, right, Mum?" George's words brought Fred back under control instantly. Whatever he'd been muttering seconds before stopped as he waited for their mum to nod. Ginny narrowed her eyes, a game of pick up Quidditch alone shouldn't have been enough to change Fred's mind, but a shout from Ron had her spinning around.

"Oi, I was about to use him!"

Percy had made his way over to Errol as soon as the attention had slipped away from him, and he was attaching yet another letter to the poor bird's leg. "Well, you'll have to wait now."

"You've got Hermes, why do you need Errol too! Mum!"

Ginny tuned out Ron's bickering as she watched the twins. Fred had retrieved the card and the envelope from the table, and they were making their way quietly out of the room, the barn owl still sitting on Fred's shoulder.

Ginny made a quick decision and skipped out after them, following them up the stairs to the third floor.

Just as they were about to close their bedroom door, she caught up. "What was that about?" She could see they were about to close the door on her, so she spoke again. "She reacted like that when she saw your friend on the platform last year too -" George paused, his hand on the door as he looked at her. Ginny pushed forward, seizing her chance. George let her push the door open, and she settled on the bottom bunk bed.

The owl had finally left Fred's shoulder and was perched on the back of the single chair by the desk. It looked around as if evaluating the mess that was the twins' floor.

George closed the door and made her tell them exactly what had happened at King's Cross station last year, and they lapsed into silence afterwards.

"He must look the same," George said after a while. "Seb and this Hydrus bloke he's related to. That must be why Mum was shocked."

"That or she's gone barmy. You think he'll bring his broomstick here if we ask?"

"He promised to let us ride it this summer," George said, answering Ginny's look. "He's got a Lightning Bolt." George grinned as Ginny's eyes went wide. That was the fastest broom ever made, no wonder Fred had shut up at the idea of playing Quidditch on it. Suddenly, Ginny was more than happy her mum had refused to let Fred and George go. This way she might get a go too.

They bent over the desk and wrote out their message on the back of the card, leaving Ginny to sit and think.

She was brimming with questions, why had their mum reacted like that? Who was Sebastian? How did his parents die? What did she mean about the wards? But she knew if she asked the wrong ones and annoyed them, she'd get kicked out. She bit her lip, thinking over everything that had happened carefully.

"What's a Death Eater?" She asked finally as they reattached the note to the barn owl's claw.

She couldn't help but feel like the owl had understood what she'd just asked because the golden eyes turned in her direction and focused fully on her. She almost missed the look the twins shared.

"They were followers of You-Know-Who," Fred answered eventually.

"So who's Hydrus?" Ginny asked, confused. "His dad?"

"Not his dad, I don't know who Hydrus is."

"An uncle maybe," George said. "Or cousin?"

"But he still lives with Sebastian?" she asked. Their mum had said it was the same house.

"No, it's definitely just him and his sister that live there. He told us so."

Fred opened the window and carried the owl to it. It leapt forward, spreading its wings and gliding away.

"It's a beautiful owl," she said without thinking and blushed almost immediately. But they didn't make fun of her for the childish fact, they both seemed rather taken with the owl themselves.

Ginny wondered how much time they'd spent around it last year as Fred said. " _It_ is a she."

"And _she_ ," George said, smiling at her, "is called Ava."

She didn't manage to learn anything else about what had happened. Neither Fred or George knew anything more, and they refused to answer any of the other questions she had about Sebastian. All she could get from Percy over the following days was that the Fitzroy family were upstanding wizards (even though both his parents were now dead). They were a really powerful and influential family and that, if the twins knew what was good for them, they'd become good friends. He'd said more than that, but Ginny wasn't interested in the politics of who exactly his father had been at the Ministry. So she hadn't paid as much attention to the rest.

The day after she'd managed to get that much from Percy, everyone's Hogwarts letters finally arrived, and the matter slipped from her mind. She'd spent her whole life listening to stories from her older brothers about Hogwarts and all the adventures they'd had. But now her mum was saying that the trip to Diagon Alley could wait till next week.

More waiting. She was starting to think she'd never get her wand. Fred and George had promised to teach her a hex before school started, but at this rate, Mum wouldn't buy it for her until the day before they left.

Still, Sebastian had sent Ava back to accept the invitation, promising to bring his broomstick with him. And Ron's friends had also replied. She'd get to meet both Neville and Hermione. Ron had been talking about them all year in his letters ever since they'd duelled a troll on Halloween together, and they'd taken on a professor at the end of term too, so at least that was something to look forward to.

With a sigh, Ginny turned back to Scabbers, Ron's rat. Out of pure boredom, she'd put a bow behind his right ear, but he seemed rather unimpressed and kept trying to rub it off with his paw- the one with the missing toe. If she had a wand, she could make the bow stay on for the rest of the day. _It's not long now_ , she promised herself. And in the meantime she'd get to ride a Lightning Bolt! She held onto Scabbers and forced the bow back into his fur, thinking about the beautiful owl that belonged to Sebastian. All she had was this stupid rat to play with.

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 **Next up Seb and Neville both arrive at the Burrow.**


	20. Chapter 20 - The Burrow

Astoria was late. And okay, she'd said she would come back to pick him up whenever she got her break, but Sebastian had told Fred and George that he'd be there at eleven, and it was now five minutes past.

He'd been disappointed when they'd replied to his invite saying they couldn't attend but not entirely surprised. It had been a good day anyway. The perks of his birthday falling around the same time as the Lughnasadh festival was that most people were up for celebrating and taking part in the games. Even Draco hadn't grumbled much.

All his cousins had come. Newt and Augustus, who managed to fit it in before his Auror training started next week. (He'd only gotten his letter of acceptance into the program a couple of days before, so he'd been in high spirits.) And his cousins from Germany too. Loki didn't stop whizzing around the whole day, and it was good to see Eugene and Dominic again, although Sebastian could have done without Beatrix showing up. She hadn't taken part at all, which meant she'd been Astoria's problem for most of the day. Story had taken part in a couple of the games herself, and Sebastian was almost certain it was just to get away from Beatrix.

Along with Archie, Matt and Edgar being there, it had been a full house, or full grounds to be more precise as they'd spent the day outside. In the end he hadn't missed the twins, but he was still looking forward to seeing them now.

Or whenever Astoria deemed it necessary to show up.

He'd been nervous about visiting them all day, which was silly. It was Fred and George. And so what if their mum seemed to already hate him. He was sure Ron had probably been saying all kinds of things over the summer, not that she needed any help. Sebastian remembered the way she'd reacted by the barrier to Platform 9 3/4 last year. He hadn't known it was her at first of course, but he'd seen the twins with her since.

He'd changed his clothes three times that morning already, leaving his room a complete mess, but that's what house elves were for, before grabbing his broom and making his way down to the gate. In the end he'd gone with a plain white undershirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black trousers tucked into his boots. No cloak, he didn't want to look too dressed up and formal. His wand was already tucked away in his new boot holster, a birthday present from Astoria. It had an undetectable extension charm tailored to his wand so that only the top two inches stuck out the top of his boot cuff for easy grabbing. It was a little less conspicuous than carrying his wand around in a pocket or arm holster considering those under age weren't technically allowed to use magic outside of school. Astoria wouldn't ever let him go anywhere without his wand, not that he'd ever want to.

His fingers snapped a bent twig off the end of his broom and he sighed again, slumping back against the fountain. It probably wasn't the best of ideas to sit where he was. If a muggle waltzed up to the gate and peered through the metal bars, Sebastian would have a bit of explaining to do. He was sure most twelve-year-old muggles didn't habitually carry around broomsticks, but he honestly didn't care right now.

It wasn't that strange a sight, and the fountain was hemmed in by tall hedges on all three sides, meaning anyone who did look in through the gate couldn't see anything beyond. Of course if they tried to look over the high walls that surrounded the manor, the wards would stop them from seeing anything interesting. Even if a dozen people were flying around on broomsticks like they had the other day, all anyone looking over the wall would see was well manicured gardens leading up to a well cared for but, for all appearances, empty manor house. No, the only way to look into Fitzroy manor was through the gate, and all they'd see was a kid sitting in front of a fountain in a paved square. It was almost like sitting in the centre of a maze.

Sebastian leaned his head back against the cold marble rim of the fountain to look up at the sky. The tinkling sound of water was the only thing he could hear. He was just starting to wonder if he was too dressed down and whether he should get a cloak when a loud bang made him sit up.

Astoria, in her lime green healer's robes, was walking towards the gate, having apparated into the shadow of the outbuilding. Sebastian scrambled to his feet as she opened the gate. The words "you're late" were just forming on his lips, but Story must have known what he was thinking because she glared at him, and the words died in his throat.

"Unless you want me to splinch your broomstick, give me a minute."

Sebastian nodded, unconsciously holding his Lightning Bolt a little closer as his sister tidied herself up.

The stains from her uniform disappeared; the creases flattened themselves out. Her hair smoothed and re-plaited itself, covering the scars the way it always did when Astoria was on duty. Sebastian still wasn't wholly used to this Astoria. The Astoria who presented herself like any other healer, ready to take orders and do her job. He was much more used to her showing her scars and glaring at everyone, a dare in her eyes for anyone brave enough to speak to her.

"Give me that," she said, gesturing to the broom. Sebastian smiled and handed it over. Her appearance didn't change how bossy she was.

"I scouted out the apparition point this morning," she said as she walked back out the gate beyond the wards. "So I'm taking you straight to their house rather than nearby. Are you ready?"

"Yes." He held out his hand to clasp onto Astoria's arm as she did the same to him. Her fingers flexed, checking her grip on his bare forearm and the broom she held in her other hand before nodding.

Sebastian's eyes locked onto hers just as he felt the pull start and then that horrible blackness and squeezing sensation, as if the earth itself was trying to press you into nothingness.

A loud pop echoed in his ears. Breath found it's way back into his lungs, and the world reappeared around them. His eyes quickly checked Astoria for injury before they drifted to his surroundings.

They were standing on a wide dirt road a few metres away from a wooden fence. A lopsided sign next to the gate read "The Burrow", and beyond that (past the chickens that seemed to have claimed the yard) was the house itself. Sebastian couldn't help but smile as he looked at it. It was a mismatch of hastily added rooms built up over what had to have been a small, stone barn. The whole place screamed magic; if it had been a muggle house Sebastian had no doubt it would have fallen down by now. The rooms were off at random angles, and the roof, when his eyes eventually reached that far, had up to a half dozen chimneys stacked on it. To one side of the house was a garage. The kind a muggle might have, large enough to house two of those muggle cars. Although, by the look of the dilapidated brick work and the large wooden door that was hanging slightly open, Sebastian thought it might be being used to house the chickens instead.

The front door banged open, and Fred and George came tumbling out. "There you are!" one of them shouted as they got to the gate and opened it.

Sebastian could see Mrs Weasley behind them. She was fiddling with her apron, smoothing it down as she hurried towards them.

"Welcome," she said with a smile as she got to them, ushering them through into the yard. "Come in, come in."

Sebastian wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but there seemed to be something forced about Mrs Weasley's smile, as if she were trying too hard to appear welcoming. Of course, Sebastian thought, that might just be how she behaved.

"My apologies about being late," Astoria said, coming to a stop barely inside the boundary. "I had to wait for my break to collect him."

Mrs Weasley's eyes roamed over Astoria's healing robes, and her demeanour seemed to relax. She nodded. "Of course, we're just glad he made it."

"Thank you for inviting me," Sebastian said as he relived Astoria of his broomstick and edged towards Fred and George, who were sharing twin grins and looking greedily at the broom.

"We'll just be off to the orchard then," one of the twins said.

"Oh no, you won't. No flying until after lunch."

"But Mum-"

"No," she said sternly. "Lunch will be ready in less than an hour. Why don't you show your friend around?"

"Yes, Mum," one of the twins said as the other rolled his eyes at Sebastian and led him towards the front door.

"I'll be back to pick him up at five," Astoria was saying to Mrs Weasley. "I can't get off any earlier I'm afraid. But if he needs to return home, then he knows how."

"I'm sure we can keep him entertained until then."

Sebastian had paused at the front door, and Astoria looked over at him, waiting for him to nod before she apparated away with a loud crack. Mrs Weasley, who had turned to look back at them, startled at the sound, and Sebastian turned towards the door to hide his smile. Astoria hadn't even bothered to walk back through the gate before leaving. It was the height of bad manners, and he wondered if she'd been more annoyed at his invitation being turned down than he'd thought.

A neat line of nine pairs of Wellington boots (with not a speck of dirt on them) were arranged beside the door as he followed the twins into the house. The entrance way opened straight into a cluttered kitchen area.

"Welcome to the Burrow," Fred said, waving his arm dramatically across the space.

It was full of noise and movement even though no one else was in the room. A large table took up most of the space; there was a self stirring pot on the stove and a chopping board with a knife happily chopping away next to it. A pile of cooking and gardening books were arranged on a small bookcase on one of the sideboards, an old wireless radio humming out a Wizarding station in the background. It was nothing at all like the calm and quiet of his home, and he didn't think he had time to take in half of what was in that room before he was being led around the table, past a large grandfather clock and through a door into a dark hallway.

The hallway was small and claustrophobic, as if it had been an afterthought, tucked in the middle after all the other rooms had been arranged. The only light was coming from the doors on either side of the hall and the stairway in-between.

"We'll show you our room," George said as he led the way up the rickety staircase. The wooden slats creaked under their weight as the three of them trudged upward. Each landing they came to had a mismatch of clashing rugs worn into the ground that softened their steps until they turned into another stairway. Sebastian found the rooms were just as randomly placed inside as they looked from the front garden. A handful of steps here, a full staircase going back the other way there. Fred and George opened a door on what could possibly have been described as the third floor, (Sebastian could see more switchback stairs going up another few levels) he followed the twins inside, and they closed the door firmly behind him.

The room they'd shown him into was quite small, maybe half the size of his bedroom at home, with a lingering scent of gunpowder. Two unmade bunk beds took up most of one wall next to a large window. A small desk was in front of it, though most of it was covered in an assortment of things, including clothes, that left very little room to actually use the surface. The clothes continued onto the back of the lone chair and over the top of the wardrobe door. A faded red and gold rug covered most of the wooden floor boards, and their two Hogwarts trunks were piled in a corner amongst an avalanche of books and boxes.

"I know what you're thinking," Fred said. "And you'd be right. This is definitely the best room in the house."

Sebastian laughed, carefully leaning his Lightning Bolt up against the wardrobe by the door.

"Mum told us to clean it," George said as he swung himself up to sit on the top bunk, his legs dangling over the edge. "But what would be the point in that? It'll just get messy again."

"Besides, if we cleaned it, you wouldn't get the full ..."

"Aroma?" Sebastian asked, glancing at a pair of socks sitting on the desk as he walked over to the window to look outside.

"I was going to say charm."

The window looked out on a large overgrown garden that spanned the back of the house. There was a large pond, some trees, and lots of plants growing around the edges. It was all skirted by thick green hedges.

"You see the trees over on that hill there?" Fred said, pointing just past the end of the garden where the ground rose. "That's our orchard. The trees give us enough cover to play Quidditch-"

"So long as we fly low."

"Means no one in the village can see. It's where we'll be heading after lunch."

A movement drew Sebastian's eyes back down to the garden, but whoever it was had disappeared. "Who else is here?" Sebastian asked, turning back to the twins.

"Let's see: Mum, Dad, me and George, you-" Fred counted them off on his fingers. "Ginny, Percy, Ron. Hermione and Neville are here too."

"You'll meet them all later. Ginny hasn't stopped asking questions about you all summer."

Sebastian raised his eyebrows at that. "Why?"

George shared a quick look with his brother, and if Sebastian hadn't been looking at him he would have missed it. "Your owl caused quite a fuss-"

"Yeah, we're still not entirely sure why."

Sebastian got the distinct impression that Fred had posed it as a question, but he wasn't sure what the twins knew and didn't know about their uncles, so he avoided it. "What's that?" he asked, spotting a mass of brown goo sitting on the corner of the desk. He wasn't able to completely hide the disgusted face he pulled at the sight of it. It looked like it had been cut into sections but was attempting to merge back together.

"That, my dear friend, is Toffee Tongue," Fred said proudly, puffing out his chest and putting his arm around Sebastian's shoulders.

"Toffee Tongue?" He had no idea what it was, but the name made it sound worse.

"It's a work in progress," George said from behind him. " I wouldn't eat any if I were you. We haven't figured out a way to make it stop yet."

Sebastian took a second to catch up because he was too revolted about the idea of eating the thing to make sense of George's words. "Make what stop?"

Fred's eyes lit up, and he stepped forward, waving his arm dramatically in a bow across the brown toffee. "Fred and George Weasley proudly present: Toffee Tongue. The first magnificent new sweet in our marvellous range of joke products."

"It needs work," George said again.

"What does it do?"

"It grows the tongue of whoever eats it. But as George said, we haven't figured out a way to make it to stop growing yet, but we'll get there ."

"I nearly died. Choked by my own tongue."

"We had to get Mum to reverse it as we didn't have our wands. She wasn't happy."

Sebastian frowned, glancing between the twins and then around the room looking for, and failing to find, the familiar shape of their wands. "Why don't you have your wands?"

"Mum doesn't trust us with them outside of school." George sighed dramatically. "Thinks we'll get up to mischief."

"Which we would, but at least we'd get ourselves out of it again."

"So how did you charm the—toffee—if you didn't have a wand?"

"Percy," Fred said simply.

"Percy helped you?" Sebastian said, starting to feel like this was all one massive joke.

The twins laughed.

"No," Fred said. "Perfect prefect Percy would never break the rules. Mum lets him keep his wand in his room."

"In his bedside drawer to be precise."

"Ah," Sebastian said, everything falling into place as he looked back at the goo. "You might want to work on the toffee. I wouldn't eat that if you paid me."

"Yeah, well, we aren't chefs, are we?"

"What other products do you have?"

"Um, well-"

"None as of yet."

Sebastian couldn't help but laugh at the sheepish grin the twins shared. He cut off quickly as there was a knock at the door, but he was still smiling as the door opened and a little red-haired girl peered in.

"Mum says lunch is nearly ready and you should help set up." Her eyes landed on the broomstick standing next to her, and it wasn't until they all filed out into the hallway and George closed the door that she looked away from it.

"This is Ginny," George said as they led the way down the stairs. "The baby of the family."

Sebastian saw Ginny scowl at the back of George's head as she trailed behind them.

"She's Mum's favourite," Fred said, reaching back to try to pat her on the head, but Ginny dodged backwards out of reach.

Neville, Ron and Hermione were all in the kitchen when they arrived. The backdoor leading out to the garden was standing wide open, and they were counting out plates at the table.

"You all know each other," George said by way of introductions.

Hermione said a quiet hello, and Sebastian nodded to her before following the twins out into the garden where two large tables had been laid end to end on the grass.

"You two can help set up the table now that you're here," Mrs Weasley said to the twins. "You don't have to help, dear," she said to Sebastian as she went past them. "Not those plates," he heard her say when she got back in the kitchen.

Ron's voice drifted out to them until they were further away. "But we always use these plates-"

A thin, balding man with glasses was standing by the tables. What little hair he had was as red as his family's, and he had a kind, open face. He clasped his hands together, almost bouncing in place as he spotted them. "Ah, you must be Sebastian."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Weasley," he said, inclining his head. He felt the twins' shared bemused looks but ignored them as he focused back on the table that Mr Weasley was trying to organise.

There was a large pile of cutlery sitting on one of the tables that Ginny had already started to place out. The twins both took a handful, and Sebastian was just about to do the same when there was a large crash behind him.

He ducked into a crouch, his hand automatically reaching for the wand in his boot before he realised it was only the sound of someone dropping plates in the kitchen. He could imagine it being Neville before the clumsy, round-faced boy was ushered out of the kitchen empty-handed followed by Ron and Hermione who both had plates in their arms.

Sebastian had straightened quickly, and both Fred and George had been facing the other way, so neither had seen his reaction, but Ginny was watching him. Her eyes trailed down to where he'd reached for his boot, and he turned away to try to hide the wand, but her eyes had already seen it's handle sticking up. A small frown formed on her face. "Why do you have your wand?"

Everyone around the table had heard her question, and he tried to shrug it off as he reached for a handful of cutlery. "Just for emergencies."

"I thought we weren't allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts?"

"We aren't," Hermione said, putting her pile of plates down carefully. "Unless it's in self-defence."

"As in, if we're attacked?" Ginny asked, turning back to Sebastian. "Why would anyone attack you?"

Sebastian ignored Ron's muttered, "I can think of a reason," and said, "It's just in case," hoping that would be the end of it, but Ginny wasn't finished.

"Have you been attacked before?"

The table was conspicuously quiet as Sebastian replied. "I have."

Ginny's eyes went wide, and she was silent for a moment. "Did it help? Having your wand?"

"Ginny," George said, trying to get her to stop.

"I didn't have my wand then," Sebastian said, putting another knife and fork in place. "I wasn't eleven yet. But my sister did."

"Like you'd have done anything if you did," Ron said from across the table, and Hermione rounded on him.

"He did actually! He used his sister's wand to set one of the werewolves on fire."

At any other moment, Sebastian might have found Hermione's indignity on his part amusing, but right now he wished she'd kept her mouth shut. No one here knew they were friends, and he'd have rathered it stayed that way.

The twins were looking between him and Hermione with calculating looks on their faces, and Mr Weasley, who seemed to have just picked up on the conversation from where he was standing, quickly came over. "Well now, it looks like the table's mostly set. Why don't you three help Molly bring out the food?"

Hermione squeaked a "sorry" in Sebastian's direction before following after Neville and Ron.

"That was interesting," Fred whispered.

"Very interesting," George echoed as the last of the plates were set down. Sebastian was saved from having to say anything as the food arrived and they all took their seats.

The table was piled high with delicious food, and Sebastian had ended up sat between Fred and George, talking to Mr Weasley, who was sitting at the head of their end of the table, about the legalities of owning a flying car.

"There's a loophole in the law you see," Mr Weasley was saying. "So long as you don't intend to fly the car, the fact that it could fly in itself isn't illegal."

"So, you have a flying car that you've never actually flown," Sebastian said.

"Exactly."

"Not even a little bit?" Sebastian said, earning a giggle off Ginny who was sitting on Mr Weasley's other side. "How do you know you did the spell work right, then?"

"Well, I may have, um, done some—testing."

"Dad!" Fred grinned and clapped his dad on the back.

"Don't tell your mother now," he said in a conspiratory whisper, winking at Ginny. "But as I was saying," he said, raising his voice back to normal levels. "Cars. Fascinating muggle inventions." He was nodding earnestly at Hermione who was next to Ginny and had somehow been pulled into a conversation about the car her parents had driven her there in. "It took you 45 minutes. Funny what muggles are willing to put up with to avoid magic."

A comment like that could easily have been an insult. Out of the lips of a Malfoy it couldn't have been anything but insulting, but somehow, Mr Weasley had said it so genuinely and with so much interest that it was only endearing.

"How did you get here?" Hermione asked Sebastian from across the table. "We were by the fireplace in the living room when you arrived, so you didn't floo."

"Can't floo," he said as he scooped a bit more pasta onto his plate. "My house isn't connected."

"I thought all Wizarding houses were connected to the floo?"

"Well, most are," Mr Weasley agreed.

"So, why isn't yours?"

"He probably doesn't know how to use it," Ron said as he leant across Hermione to get the butter.

"It's not a secure way to travel," Sebastian replied coolly, not sure why he was letting Ron's comments bother him so much today.

"The floo network is controlled by the Ministry of Magic itself," Percy said, their conversation now involving everyone at the table. "A whole department is tasked with its security and upkeep, I assure you," he said to Hermione. "It's very secure indeed. No one can break into it."

Sebastian was just about to say something to move the conversation to a safer topic when Neville spoke.

"They can though." His voice was quiet, and his eyes flicked around the table as if he hadn't meant to speak. "Break into it, I mean. It's been done before," everyone was looking at him, and his eyes dropped down to his plate as he said, "during the war."

Sebastian's heart sank, all hope of avoiding any unwanted topics was out the proverbial window. If Neville had been told how they'd broken into his house to torture his parents, then there was no doubt anymore about whether he knew exactly who had done it. Neville had been all over the front pages of the Prophet after school had ended. There had been all kinds of headlines about how he single handedly took on a Hogwarts professor to stop him from stealing the stone. How Neville Longbottom was living up to his parents legacy. Son of two of the bravest Aurors ever to work for the ministry. How they'd been tortured into insanity by followers of You-know-Who and currently resided at St Mongos. But by some miracle the names of the death eaters involved had always been omitted. Neither his or Archie's families had been dragged into it. Sebastian had been hoping that luck would continue and his uncle wouldn't be on the list of discussions he had today.

"Yes, well," Percy said. "A lot of things happened during the war that shouldn't have. But it won't happen again. Safeguards are in place, and to get around them there would have to be corruption at the very top level which is simply impossible."

Sebastian had frozen at the word 'corruption'. It didn't seem to have been aimed at him. In fact, Percy seemed to be oblivious to the way both his parents had tensed while he was talking. But Sebastian wasn't, and he'd seen the way Mrs Weasley's eyes had flicked in his direction. He had enough time to wonder just how many people at the table thought his father had been 'corrupt' (which he supposed was perhaps the nicest word for someone who was working for the Dark Lord) when Hermione coughed lightly.

"So, how did you get here?"

It took him a second to clear his head and focus back on Hermione. "My sister, side along apparition."

"I can't wait till we get to learn that," she said enthusiastically. "It sounds so convenient. It's suppose to be really difficult to learn though. What was it like?"

The tension in the table had drained. Ron and Neville had started to talk about something else, and Mrs Weasley was heaping more food onto Neville's plate in what seemingly was an attempt to make up for his parents' torture coming up at the dinner table. Sebastian couldn't help but smile at how easily Hermione had managed it. "Horrible, as usual."

Mr Weasley laughed. "It's not the most comfortable way to travel. Definitely not as comfortable as a car, though much quicker."

"Do eat some more, Sebastian, dear," Mrs Weasley said, standing and passing another bowl to Percy. "There's plenty to be had."

"Thank you, Mrs Weasley, but I think I'm full."

"Nonsense," she said, eliciting laughs from the twins. "You're too skinny by half. Are they not feeding you at home?" She'd said it with a smile, but it slipped off her face almost as soon as she'd realised what she'd said. There was no one at home but Astoria.

Sebastian kept the smile on his face. "I've had plenty. It was lovely, thank you. But if we're going to be flying after lunch, I don't want to be too full."

"Of course, of course," she said, smiling rather forcefully and sitting back down.

He saw Fred's hand pause over the bread before deciding against adding more food to his plate.

"Speaking of flying," George said. "We should have enough for a game of pick up Quidditch, if you three are coming-"

"We're not," Ron said quickly. Just as easily as that, the tension was back. Ron glanced at his mum and didn't say anymore, but he didn't have to say the 'not with him' aloud, it was obvious what he'd meant.

Sebastian was really starting to want to throw a curse at Ron. It would be easy to reach into his boot and do it under the table. Of course, everyone would know it was him, but by now he wasn't sure if anyone would blame him. Archie definitely would have done it by now if he'd been there.

Sebastian's eyes slid to Hermione who hunched her shoulders slightly. "I don't like flying, sorry."

"Suit yourselves," Fred said. His voice was still light, but his hands were motionless on the table top. "More time for us to have a go on his Lightning Bolt. Percy?"

"I have things to do." Percy didn't seem to be aware of the lines Ron had just drawn, and Sebastian was amazed that someone who was so obviously angling for a job at the Ministry could be so oblivious to family politics.

"I'll come!" Ginny said, sitting up straight. "Can I, Mum? Please!" It was the plea of someone who had absolutely no belief that she was going to get her way but who was going to try anyway.

Mrs Weasley only paused slightly before saying, "Of course, dear."

Ginny's eyes went wide, a beaming smile taking over her features.

"Just be careful and remember to-"

"-fly low," the twins finished her sentence in unison.

"Go on then," she said, and Sebastian saw the confused looks the twins shot each other before Fred jumped up and said, "I'll get his broomstick." He was off into the house before anyone could say another word.

George hurried Sebastian swiftly from the table and down the garden, with Ginny skipping behind them towards the gate.

"Why the rush?" Sebastian asked as they came to a stop beside a wooden shed next to the break in hedges. The hedges weren't nearly as high as the ones back at his home, only barely reaching over Fred's and George's heads.

"She never asked us to help tidy up," George said as he opened the shed door to reveal an assortment of old broomsticks.

"She's been acting a bit odd whenever you're around," Ginny said, watching him.

Sebastian almost snorted but managed to keep a straight face at the last second. He knew he was the spitting image of his uncle Hydrus. He seemed to look more and more like him every year. He also knew that, when Hydrus had been sent to Azkaban, the deaths of Fabian and Gideon Prewett had been on his list of charges. It was no wonder Mrs Weasley was acting odd about him being around the twins.

George pulled out a couple of brooms that Sebastian recognised as Cleansweeps. The inscription on the worn handles told him they were Cleansweep Fives. Sebastian knew that model was at least a couple of decades out of date, and they seemed to be the best brooms in amongst the others as George handed Ginny a broom.

"Here, you can use Ron's Shooting Star seeing as he doesn't want to." She took it almost reverently, and Sebastian looked away, suddenly embarrassed at how nonchalantly he'd joked about his Lightning Bolt.

Fred had returned from the house and jogged over to them, Sebastian's broom stick at his side. "Ready?" he asked, not waiting for a reply or handing over the broom as he opened the gate.

"I'm not spending ages teaching you to fly, Gin. You'll just have to watch if-"

"I know how to fly!" she said indignantly, cutting George off.

"Oh, really? Since when? You never-"

"Since you all left for Hogwarts last year. What do you think I've been doing this whole time?"

Fred stopped on the winding path they'd been walking and turned to look at Ginny. "Mum let you fly?"

"No," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Fred laughed and started walking again. "I knew you were our sister really."

"So can I have a turn?" she said, looking hopefully at Sebastian.

"If you know how to fly." He was hedging his bets. He didn't want to be the reason she got injured, not when everything else had already been going so peachy at lunch.

"It's the fastest broom ever," she said as if they didn't all already know that.

"It won't be for long," Sebastian said. "The Firebolt will be out for Christmas. It's supposed to be a little bit faster."

"Now that," George said, putting his arm around his little sister, "will be a proper Quidditch broom."

"Will you be getting it?" Sebastian had to laugh at the hopeful look she was giving him.

"No, I've only had this one a year."

They'd gotten to the edge of the orchard now, and they all had to climb over the low wooden fence. George handed him the two Cleansweeps he'd been carrying.

"Less than a year."

"No, I got it for my last birthday," Sebastian said, not really paying attention as he handed the brooms back to George once he'd climbed over.

"How? It only came out at Christmas. Your birthday's at the start of August like mine."

"You've just had a birthday?"

"It's tomorrow. Mum made a cake for later."

"Happy birthday," Sebastian said, and Ginny blushed salamander red right to the roots of her hair. "You'll be eleven then?" He waited for her to nod before asking, "Planning on being sorted into Ravenclaw?"

The twins laughed, but Ginny only frowned, not understanding the joke.

"I just figured with all the questions-" he said. She promptly shut her mouth, which only caused the twins to laugh harder.

They were in the middle of a wide open space now. The apple trees on either side did indeed block them from view.

"So how did you get it?" Fred asked.

"It was a present," he said, not really wanting to go into it. It was one thing to have a broom worth more than all the brooms in their shed and another thing completely to tell them he'd gotten it for free, but they weren't giving it up.

"Who gave it to you?"

Sebastian sighed. "Randolph Spudmore."

"As in the maker of the broomstick?"

"Just a perk of being a Fitzroy?" Fred asked.

Sebastian crossed his arms. "If you must know, my father invested money in Spudmore before he was killed. It's the first broom Spudmore has released. It was a gift."

The twins moved on quickly after that. The broomstick was thrust back at Sebastian, and they all took to the air. They spent a short time throwing apples at each other (supposedly to catch but Sebastian had never really been good at that so it had felt more like they were being thrown at him) before landing for the others to take turns on the Lightning Bolt.

Sebastian was sure the trees weren't masking the whoops of joy that they were letting out as they flew around the clearing.

It was a long time later that the four of them trooped back towards the Burrow. Sebastian felt like he was covered in bruises, much like the apples they'd left behind littering the ground, and his white shirt was splattered with apple juice, but he was grinning from ear to ear. Ginny had turned out to be quite a competent flier considering none of her brothers had even known she'd learnt let alone taught her. And they were all exhausted as they filed through the hedge and back into the garden of the Burrow.

"There you are," Mrs Weasley said, coming towards them, smiling as she took in their happy expressions. "I was just about to send for you. It's time for cake." She took Ginny by the shoulder (who quickly handed off her broom to Fred) and guided her back to the table which had been re-set for dessert.

The cake was delicious, and Sebastian was in half a mind to save his second slice for when he saw Archie the next day, but it was too nice to leave. Before long he was standing in the front yard waiting for his sister. Fred had tried to make him forget the Lightning Bolt, but he'd gotten it back by the time the sound of her apparating split the silence.

He spared a wave back towards the house where Mrs Weasley and Ginny were watching from the kitchen then went to join his sister.

The familiar crushing sensation tearing him away from the Burrow and back towards home.

* * *

 **AN: Let me know what you thought.** **As always, reviews and favourites are very appreciated!**


	21. Chapter 21 - Return to Hogwarts

Rusty dropped Sebastian off at the apparition point in King's Cross before disappearing, just like he had last year. The lights still flickered, and the broken chairs were still piled in the back corner, but this year it was less of a struggle for Sebastian to lift his trunk onto a trolley.

He was earlier this time, and he didn't spot anyone he knew on the muggle side of the platform but, as he passed through the barrier, it was already busy on Platform 9 3/4.

The crimson train stood on the tracks, magical smoke billowing from the engine even though it was stationary. Owls hooted at each other from the rafters, claiming their own space or sweeping across to each other as if saying hello to old friends, their wings gliding over the heads of the people milling about on the platform.

Ava craned her neck in her cage, eyes watching the owls overhead as Sebastian pushed her through the crowds around the barrier. He saw Susan Bones standing with her parents. She dropped the end of the red braid that she'd been fiddling with to wave at him as he went past. He returned her smile and pushed on. He'd caught sight of Lucius Malfoy further along the platform and headed towards him, but seconds later Draco's dad disapparated and Sebastian couldn't see where Draco had disappeared to.

His eyes scanned the platform before landing on his white blond hair on the steps of a train carriage.

"Draco," he said in greeting, wondering why he was standing alone.

He couldn't see Crabbe and Goyle nearby, and his eyes must have given him away because Draco said, "They're not here yet. Probably helping themselves to more breakfast."

"Right-"

"Hey, Seb,"Archie said, appearing by his trolley, cutting him off. "Draco," he said, mimicking Sebastian's polite greeting moments before.

"Lestrange." Draco barely spared him a glance, his gaze focused over their heads, but Archie just rolled his eyes.

"Me and Matt have already gotten a compartment." His hands pulled at Sebastian's trolley, manoeuvring himself until he was standing ready to push it. "It's at the end of the train. Coming?" His eyes didn't flick back to Draco. It was as if both boys were unaware the other existed. Sebastian sighed internally. He'd rather hoped they'd get on better this year.

"Yeah," he said to Archie before turning back to Draco, who was doing an impressive job of looking completely nonplussed. "I'll see you in a minute, Draco."

Draco gave him the barest of nods, and Sebastian had to jog after Archie, who had already started pushing his trolley away.

The two of them hefted the trunk into place in their compartment. Matt took Ava carefully from him and put her cage on the seat beside him. She was more than happy to stay behind with the blond boy offering her treats as Sebastian made his way back to where Draco was still standing in the doorway of a carriage.

He was ignoring any of the students that ambled his way carrying heavy trunks, refusing to budge from his perch, making them drag their trunks to the next door instead.

"I didn't see your broom," he said by way of greeting. "You are bringing it this year, aren't you? Now that we're finally allowed. Though I suppose it won't be much good if there's a breeze."

"I'm not bringing the Lightning Bolt," he said, and Draco's eyes swung towards him, frowning (The wording here seems a little odd. Your subject was Draco's eyes, so it makes it seem like it's his eyes frowning.). "Astoria's going to send my old Comet by owl." Draco's frown disappeared, and he nodded. "We'll have the same broom," Sebastian added.

"No, we won't," he said. Sebastian gave him a confused look. Draco had brought his broom with him when he'd come over during the summer. It had definitely been a Comet 260 then. "Father bought me a new broom this summer," he said, answering Sebastian's unspoken question. "The Nimbus 2001, only came out two weeks ago. Father said that, now I'm going to be on the Slytherin team, I need a broomstick worthy of it. Don't want to go out in front of the school on an 'old Comet'."

"You're not on the team yet, Draco," Sebastian said.

Draco just raised an eyebrow. The slow and purposeful way he did it reminded Sebastian way too much of Lucius. "Let's just say, Father made sure none of team would be going out on old broomsticks."

Draco was obviously pleased about this, and Sebastian had to bite his tongue from saying any of the dozen responses that he was thinking: all of them would have started an argument. There was a challenge in Draco's expression, defensiveness, as if he was waiting for Sebastian to criticize him, so Sebastian simply said "Congrats." Confusion flitted across Draco's face before his features gave way to a genuine smile. "Seeker?" Sebastian asked.

"Of course," Draco said. And Sebastian nodded; it had been a silly question. Of course he'd want to be the one to catch the snitch himself, though Sebastian wondered what would have happened if Terrence Higgs hadn't been in seventh year last year. Would Draco still have bought his way onto the team? He wasn't about to say anything though. Draco was happy, obviously proud he was the new Slytherin seeker. Sebastian wasn't about to ruin his moment, especially as he got the feeling he was the first person Draco had told.

The open smile was still on Draco's face, and Sebastian saw the moment that it dropped. His face closing up, his lips contorting into a sneer. Sebastian only had to turn to look over his shoulder to see what Draco was looking at.

"Weasleys," Draco spat. "There's more of them every year. Do you think the girl will have to wear her brother's hand-me-down robes?" Draco smirked at his own joke before his face darkened again. "Do you know, their father actually attacked my father in Flourish and Blotts?"

Sebastian spun back to Draco. "What?"

"In the middle of the shop. With his bare hands like a filthy muggle. He's lucky my father didn't tell the Ministry about it." Draco paused, a look of pure disgust on his face as he said, "Blood-traitors. The lot of them."

Sebastian frowned, his eyes going back to where the Weasleys were all standing in a knot, Ginny pressed up against her mother's side and Fred and George laughing at some joke they'd just made. They looked like a family.

"Oh, I forgot," Draco said, bringing Sebastian's attention back to him. "You like the twins, don't you?" There was a hint of sneer in his words, but Draco didn't push it. In fact, he dropped the conversation completely in favour of talking about who the new Head Boy and Girl were this year.

It turned out Gemma Farley was the new Head Girl, making it three years in a row that a Slytherin had held the position.

Crabbe and Goyle turned up while they were still talking about how horrible it would be for her to have to share duties with her counterpart ("Working with a Gryffindor all year!"), and the train whistle blew seconds later. Sebastian climbed on board with the others and made his way back down the train to the very last compartment.

Edgar was standing in the corridor chatting to Ernie when Sebastian slipped through the door to take a seat beside Archie. Edgar's stuff was already stashed inside, and he joined them moments later, closing the door behind him, as the train rattled its way out of London.

The journey was rarely just the four of them, or rarely all four of them. People were coming and going to catch up with friends, and others came to join them. Edgar had gone off with Ernie, and Rory had just left, having been chatting to Archie for the last hour, when Sebastian decided it was his turn to go for a wander.

"Let me guess," Archie said when he got up, "off to see Malfoy?" He rolled his eyes at Matt, who laughed.

"Don't start," Sebastian said, already tired of the two being at odds.

"He's the one that started it, not me. I was all for him not acting like a prat this year, but he couldn't even manage hello before he was all–" Archie straightened up, stretching his neck as far as it would go before looking down his nose and sneering, "Lestrange."

There was a moment of silence in the compartment before both Sebastian and Matt burst out laughing. Sebastian had doubled over, holding his ribs he said, "Was that supposed to be Draco?" between breaths. "That was nothing like him!"

Matt mimicked what Archie had just done, and they both broke into laughter again.

"Yeah, alright," Archie said, a blush rising to his cheeks. He kicked at his brother to try to get him to stop laughing.

"Lestrange," Sebastian said, copying him again by putting on as deep a voice as he could and screwing up his face.

"Shut up." But there was no sting in it, and Sebastian could see Archie was fighting a smile too.

He was still grinning when he walked into the corridor. Shutting the compartment door behind him, he turned and walked straight into the twins.

"Alright," Fred said. "No need to hug me."

"Just the man we were looking for," George said. The twins weren't alone. Hermione and Ginny were both standing behind them in the otherwise empty corridor.

He focused back on George. "What do you want?"

"Well, first thing's first, I don't suppose Ron and Neville are hiding in there, are they?" he said, gesturing to the compartment he'd come out of.

Sebastian scrunched up his face. "No. Why would they?"

Fred and George shared a look but said nothing. Hermione was the one who answered him. "It's just- we've searched the whole train."

Sebastian looked between them all. The twins shared expressions of mild amusement while Ginny and Hermione both looked worried. "You're saying they missed the train."

It wasn't a question, but Hermione answered anyway. "They must have done."

Sebastian laughed. He couldn't help it; he was imagining Neville and Ron realising the train was leaving without them and trying to chase it down the platform. He could tell the twins were thinking something similar, but they were both trying to keep straight faces.

"It's not funny." Ginny had gone from worried to angry. Her eyes were blazing and flicking between the three of them.

"It is a little bit, Gin," George said.

"Wish we'd thought of it."

"How can you say that?" Hermione said. "They could miss classes; they could get in trouble!"

"They'll be at Hogwarts before we will." Both Ginny and Hermione turned to Sebastian with confused looks. "They'll floo. Your parents will owl the school, and they'll be there hours before us."

"They've probably already got their feet up in the common room," Fred said. "Why haven't we ever thought of missing the train?" he asked his brother.

Ginny still looked a bit worried, and George turned to Sebastian. "Anyway, we were looking for you. Ginny wants to owl Mum. Don't suppose you'll lend us Ava?"

"Sure." He walked back the few paces to the compartment and slid the door open.

"-even though it's true," Archie was saying to Matt as he went inside. "You're back quick. Did Malfoy- oh, hey." He stopped as he spotted the twins. "What's going on?" he asked as Sebastian undid the latch to Ava's cage.

"They need to send a letter." Ava hopped out easily, perching on Sebastian's arm and pecking at his sleeve as he brought her out into the corridor.

Hermione and Ginny were sitting on the ground scribbling a letter out on a piece of parchment, though Sebastian had no idea where they'd pulled the quill and ink from.

Ginny bounced to her feet when it was done and handed it over to him while Hermione was still screwing the ink pot shut.

He gave the letter to Ava. She clutched it tightly, her golden eyes focused on Sebastian waiting for instructions. "The Burrow," he said to her. "Wait to see if they want to send something back, and if they do, bring it straight to Fred or George, okay?"

She fluffed her wings and shuffled from claw to claw on his arm as if getting ready to take off. Sebastian took that as understanding.

The windows that could open along the side of the train were small and high up, so they made their way past the compartment to the door that would go down to a platform when they reached the station.

"Can I do it?" Ginny asked.

"So long as you're careful with her. Put your arm out."

She did and, after a few moments where Ava swivelled her face between the two of them, the owl flapped her way over and landed on Ginny's outstretched arm. The weight was more than Ginny was expecting, but she recovered before Ava decided to take flight.

The window in the door went down fully, and it was easy for her to reach her arm out of the opening. Ava ducked her head automatically, but Ginny made sure she had plenty of room and, as soon as she was outside, she took off. A sudden flap of her long wings and she was gliding away in the wind.

"Thanks," Ginny said quietly, suddenly shy as she slipped back towards Hermione, who gave Sebastian a smile before leaving with Ginny.

"Care to place a bet on the sorting?" Fred said as soon as the girls were out of earshot.

Sebastian laughed, "You're betting on your sister's sorting?" The twins just smiled. "Why would she be anywhere but Gryffindor?"

"We've an outside bet on her being in Slytherin."

That surprised him; their whole family were in Gryffindor. It could happen of course, but it was rare. "Well," Sebastian said, a smile creeping onto his face. "If she does get sorted into Slytherin, I'll be sure to tell her where my dorm is, you know, in case she needs anything." He winked at them and was abruptly shoved into the side of the train. He bounced off the wall, laughing as the twins shook their heads.

The rest of the journey went quickly. He popped his head into a few compartments along the train as they trundled further north across the lowlands of Scotland. Edgar bumped into him as he was making his way back to their compartment, a voice echoing along the train announced they were five minutes out.

Archie and Matt were already changed, so it was just the two of them rushing to get their robes on as they pulled up to Hogsmeade station.

They squeezed out onto the platform together just like last year, but this time, instead of following Hagrid's call for first years, they let themselves be buffeted along to the carriages.

They were some of the shortest amongst hundreds of students, so it was only when they were near the front and climbing into their own carriage that the space around them opened up enough to see.

Matt and Archie had already climbed up and taken their seats when another carriage pulled up behind them. Only it wasn't horseless like everyone had been excitedly talking about on the train. Sebastian froze, his hand clutching the side of his carriage, ready to pull himself up. There were huge black horses, snorting and pawing at the ground. Thin, wiry wings extended behind their skeletal bodies.

"Seb!" Edgar pulled at his arm. He'd climbed up, as had Ernie and a boy with short curly hair that Sebastian recognised as Justin Finch-Fletchley. They were just waiting for him. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, joining them so that their carriage could take off. No one else was looking at the creatures. He didn't think he was imagining them, but even if he wasn't, no one else could see them, and he wasn't about to bring attention to the fact he could. Not until he knew why.

He'd sat down next to Archie, and the others were talking about something else, so he didn't think they would overhear as he leaned closer to him. "You're good with Defence and creatures," he said quietly, drawing Archie's attention. "Black horses with wings like bats that no one can see?"

Archie frowned at him then a wry smile took over his features. "If we can't see them, how do we know they have wings like bats? And wouldn't the wings be a bit small?"

"Archie," Sebastian said, a sigh in his voice.

"I dunno, I've never heard of them. Nothing we've covered and not in this year's Defence either."

Sebastian just nodded. They were moving along the dirt track up to the school now, and there were carriages following behind. Sebastian could see out of the corner of his eye that they were all being pulled by the horses, but he was trying desperately not to look at them. There was something off putting about them - other than the fact that no one else could see them.

"What are you talking about?" Matt asked.

"Nothing," Sebastian said again, not wanting the others to hear, but Matt frowned in that way he had that meant he felt he was being left out. Archie shot Sebastien an annoyed look, so he relented and said, "We were just talking about defence."

"Anyone else's mum fall in love with Lockhart?" Justin joked, jutting into their conversation, completely unaware of the stares he received back as he continued, "She took one look at his photo on the books and now everything is Lockhart this and Lockhart that. She doesn't even know what he's talking about, being a muggle and all. My name was down for Eton, you know?" Sebastian had no idea what Eton was, and he could tell that Archie didn't either. Ernie's brow creased in disapproval as he saw them share a look but Justin kept talking, oblivious. "I can't tell you how glad I am I came here instead. Mum was disappointed of course, but now she's read Lockhart's books she coming around. Have you read his books yet? He does seem an incredibly brave chap. I'd have died of fear if I'd been cornered in a telephone box by a werewolf, but he stayed calm and - zap!" he said, swinging his arm around in a way that Sebastian guessed was meant to imitate casting a spell. "Just fantastic!"

There was silence as he finished. Ernie was giving them a sour look that Sebastian didn't understand, and Justin frowned as he took in the tension and realised no one was really listening to him.

The rest of the short journey was in silence. Justin had taken to glaring across at them in a sulk (which, as far as Sebastian had seen last year, was his usual state), and Ernie had crossed his arms and leaned back next to him, unwilling to be drawn into a conversation by Edgar, who jumped down to let them off as soon as they'd come to a stop. Students were streaming across the courtyard and up the steps into the castle, and Ernie and Justin had disappeared amongst the bodies before Matt had even gotten down.

Another carriage had pulled up beside them, and Sebastian flinched away as the creature snorted, flicking its head inches away from him, its dead black eyes looking straight at him. Neither Matt or Archie had noticed, but Sebastian found Blaise's eyes watching him carefully.

Blaise had obviously just climbed down from the cart before them, but he wasn't moving to follow the others into the castle. He was standing still, watching Sebastian. And then he moved, or his eyes did. They flicked over to the creature Sebastian was standing nearest to, and there was no doubt he was looking straight at it before his eyes focused back on Sebastian. He could see them too. But he didn't seem disturbed by them, or the fact no one else seemed to be able to see them.

Archie pulled on Sebastian's arm, breaking his focus. Matt had already disappeared, and when he looked back, Blaise was gone too. They moved into the shuffle of students, and then suddenly Blaise was beside him. "They're called Thestrals," he said. He'd said it quietly, but Archie was so close to them in the press that he heard too. "It's a bit grim. Having them here." He paused, watching Sebastian's reaction. Everything he said gave Sebastian the feeling he was testing him. He wasn't paying any attention to the people around him; his gaze was locked on Sebastian as if digging for information. "Only people who've seen death can see them." Another pause. Another silent judgement. "They normally pull funeral carriages."

Sebastian suddenly realised what Blaise was getting at as they passed into the entrance hall. "I didn't go," he said simply, and Archie, who had at least understood that part, pulled Sebastian away from him.

That was why Blaise had been so interested by his reaction.

He wasn't paying attention to much as Archie guided him over to a seat at the Slytherin table.

They would have pulled Sebastian's mother's hearse. But he'd been in St Mongo's still, recovering from blood loss. They'd talked about letting him go to the funeral, talked about it as if he wasn't sitting right there, but in the end they'd decided not to let him. If they'd asked, he'd have said he didn't want to go. He remembered being terrified that if he left Astoria he'd have to go to hers too. Instead he'd sat with her all morning, holding her lifeless hand until people started showing up in formal robes to pay their respects.

People he didn't know, people he recognised, people whose names he'd heard but had never met. He didn't remember what they'd said. "I'm sorry for your loss" probably came up a lot. Augustus had appeared beside him after the first few, and if any of them had needed a response that included more than saying "thank you" at the right intervals, his cousin had taken over.

Archie pulled him down onto a bench, dragging him out of his memories. They were sitting near the top of the Slytherin table. Only a couple of younger prefects were further along, marking the point where the first-years would sit after they were sorted. Other second-years were around them, but Sebastian was relieved to see that Blaise wasn't among them.

The double doors opened again (Sebastian hadn't noticed they'd been closed), and the new first-year students were led down the centre aisle. Some looked scared; others were chatting excitedly. Ginny Weasley was marching near the front of the group, her chin up and eyes looking straight ahead, but her hands were wringing at her sleeves.

McGonagall retrieved the stool and the sorting hat, and it was only then that Sebastian noticed the empty seat at the staff table. "Where's Snape?" he asked as the sorting hat began to speak. He'd said it loudly enough that it carried to Draco across from him.

"I'm sure I saw him just now," Daphne said from beside Archie. But she didn't sound very sure.

"You saw him?" he asked, but she just bit her lip.

"Maybe?"

"You don't think this is about last year, do you?" he said to Draco, gambling on his father having told him about what had happened with Quirrell and the Dark Lord.

"No," he said, "and I would have heard if he wasn't our head-of-house anymore."

"Because you know everything," Archie said, rolling his eyes.

"More than you." The scorn in his voice was obvious, and Archie rose to the bait.

"I know what happened last year," he said defensively.

"Archie," Sebastian hissed, overly aware of all of the ears around them.

"What happened last year?" Pansy said quickly from beside Draco. Daphne and Rory were both leaning in now too, looking between the three of them. "Aside from what we already know, I mean."

But no one answered her, and for a few long moments, the only sound was the singing of the Sorting Hat. Sebastian looked back at Snape's empty chair. "If he was gone, then someone else would be sat there."

Draco nodded. "True, so he's just doing something - important."

"Of course," Pansy cut in. "If anything had happened, Draco would have known."

Draco looked simultaneously pleased and uncomfortable at Pansy's praise. She was sitting a little too closely, and Sebastian saw the way Draco edged away, covering it by turning to look at the dais as McGonagall opened her scroll to call the first name.

"Avery, Rosina."

A girl with sharp features and long blonde hair falling over her shoulders walked up and took the hat. It settled on her head for a moment then shouted, "Slytherin!"

There was clapping up and down the Slytherin table as she took her seat beside Elladora. The fifth-year prefect smiled and introduced herself before going back to watching the hat.

Between thinking of Thestrals, St Mungo's memories he didn't want to be remembering, wondering which of Blaise's stepdads the boy had seen die (or how many of them) and wondering where Snape was, Sebastian missed most of the sorting. He didn't think he was the only one not paying attention either. All down the Slytherin table, students were whispering and shooting glances towards their head-of-house's empty seat.

The seats beside Elladora Grey and Alex Sykes, their other new fifth-year prefect, slowly filled up.

"Look." Pansy hissed, and Sebastian's attention snapped back to the Great Hall to see Snape had arrived.

Snape had entered through a side door and walked the length of the staff table until he was standing behind Dumbledore. He leant forward, his lips moving quickly, and the headmaster nodded but didn't rise. Instead of sitting down in his empty chair, Snape walked back to the edge of the room and waited by the door he'd entered through.

McGonagall was still calling names. She'd frowned and pursed her lips at the mutterings that had erupted at Snape's entrance, but she continued down the list.

There were only a couple of girls left standing in the centre aisle now, Ginny Weasley, with her red hair, stood out in any crowd and another small girl with short cropped, black hair who reminded Sebastian oddly of a pixie (or was that an imp?). It was this girl that got called next. "Vaisey, Catarina."

She strode up confidently. The hat slipped down over her short hair and eyes. Everyone waited a moment and then - "Slytherin."

There was a sharp smile on the girl's round face as she took the hat off and made her way over to their table. And finally, only Ginny stood there. She had started climbing the dais before McGonagall had even read her name.

"Weasley, Ginevra." The hat sunk low, her red hair streaming out around it like a lion's mane. The result was already obvious to anyone watching. "Gryffindor!" it shouted, and Ginny skipped down to the Gryffindor table as McGonagall carried the stool and sorting hat away.

Sebastian almost missed McGonagall leaving through the side door with Snape as Dumbledore stood and called for attention. "Welcome, to our new students and those returning for another year. Now," he said his arms wide, "food." He clapped once, and the tables filled with food.

The first years gasped, hands reaching for every dish, but Sebastian was watching Dumbledore. He hadn't sat back down. He watched them for a moment then left through the side door too.

He shared a look with Draco and Archie, but before long, they were all tucking into the feast, their hunger from the long trip temporarily overcoming their curiosity.

Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape all returned together while they were still munching away. None of them looked concerned about whatever had been happening.

They were well into desserts when a solitary owl flew in overhead. The white feathers underneath its wings caught the light of the hundreds of candles. Its heart shaped face peered down at the students. Sebastian recognised Ava before she swooped down across the Gryffindor table. He didn't think anyone else would recognise her, not unless she stopped. Just one barn owl out of the dozens that resided at the school but Sebastian had had her since she was a ball of fluff. It was definitely her. She didn't slow down as she dropped a letter over the twins' heads. Her wings flapped to gain height, and then she was gone again. No one would know it had been his owl delivering the Weasleys' letters. He'd have to go to her tomorrow in the owlery to thank her.

He looked back at the Gryffindor table where the twins were reading the letter, and his eyes skimmed across the table. Ron and Neville still weren't there. A small knot of worry started to form. Surely they would have been here by now, but he dismissed it. They'd probably just been forced to miss the feast, a punishment to stop others from copying them next year.

He'd had enough mysteries for one night. Whatever it was, he wasn't going to find out till tomorrow, so he let his mind wander. Talk at his table turned to guessing what their timetables would look like when they were handed out at breakfast, which lessons they would share with who and how long they'd have to wait till they had a defence lesson with Lockhart (or in some people's case, how long they would get until they had to have a class with Lockhart). They returned to their dorms later full of food and more than ready for sleep. They'd even managed to get into bed without any trace of an argument between Draco and Archie.

* * *

AN: as always comments always make my day :)


	22. Chapter 22 - Lockhart

When Sebastian did wake up in the soft watery, green light that meant morning in the dungeons, it was to the sight of his broomstick leaning carefully against the end of his bed.

He hadn't closed the curtains around his bed the night before, forgetting where he was, so he could see he was the first one up. Archie, as always, only had his half drawn, he stretched before he swung his legs over the side of the bed so they were sitting across from each other. Sebastian could almost imagine they were in the attic room of the manor, Matt and Edgar still sleeping in the other beds under the eaves like they'd all done a hundred times before.

"What?" Archie said, voice still full of sleep as he wiped at his eyes.

Sebastian shook the memories from his head and instead pointed to the end of Archie's bed where a rather more beaten up Comet 260 sat mirroring Sebastian's. That was all Archie needed to come fully awake, and Sebastian shook his head again at how easily pleased Archie was as he slipped away into their bathroom to use the shower before the others woke up.

"When will we find out when second year flying is?" Archie asked as they got dressed.

"It'll be on our timetables."

"It's not a lesson though."

Sebastian shrugged as he sat down on his bed to pull his boots on. "Story said it's always on the timetables. I think it's 'cause it's like a lesson for Madam Hooch even if it's not compulsory for us."

"Ready?" Draco asked from the doorway. He was already dressed. His Nimbus 2001 had been waiting for him when he'd woken up as well, but he'd barely spared it a glance as if him having the best broomstick in the school was a given. Still, Sebastian had looked at it when Draco had been in the bathroom and even Archie had to grudgingly agree that it looked impressive (though not within Draco's earshot). Its black stained wood with silver footrests definitely looked the part, and Sebastian was sure Draco was aware, and secretly pleased, that they'd looked at it. But now he was impatient to get to breakfast. Nott was bobbing around the doorway waiting too, and the four of them made their way up to breakfast together.

They spotted the other second years sitting in a group at the Slytherin table and headed towards them. Breakfast was already on the tables so they helped themselves to food as they sat down. "Did your broomsticks arrive too?" Rory asked. "I hope flying club is today for second years."

"It won't be on today," Sebastian said. "First day back and all. If it is down for Wednesdays, we'll have to wait till next week."

Rory grimaced. "Tomorrow then?"

"I thought flying lessons were only for first years?" Daphne asked the table.

"It's not a _lesson_ , it's a club," Blaise said, a note of condescension in his voice. "You don't have to go."

Daphne ignored his tone. "So, it's for the whole school then?"

"It's _second-year_ flying club-"

"I meant -" she said loudly, cutting Blaise off mid remark, "all four houses?" He decided to ignore her completely, sensing he'd lost any opportunity to mock, so she turned back to the others.

"All four houses," Archie confirmed. Sebastian knew he was looking forward to Matt being able to fly with them this year.

The post had started arriving as the conversation tailed off. Not much was said amid the noise and commotion of a hundred owls swooping down. Letters and parcels were dropped over heads and, in some cases, into food, and students started ripping into packages.

The last of the owls were still flying back out again, only a few remaining at the tables nibbling on food, when an explosion of noise filled the hall. "... STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU." Mrs Weasley's voice echoed around the stone hall as whispers of "howler" chased around the room. Students swivelled around to try to find out who the unfortunate student was but Sebastian, who'd recognised the voice, knew exactly where to look. Ron was slumped as far down in his seat as he could go. The mystery of how Ron and Neville had gotten to Hogwarts had suddenly been solved. They'd used Mr Weasley's flying car.

"-YOU WAIT TILL I GET A HOLD OF YOU," the howler was still shouting, and Sebastian had to grab a hold of his goblet to stop it from spilling as the plates and cutlery shook from the noise. "I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT HAD GONE? WE GOT THE LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME-"

Sebastian heard Malfoy snicker at this, the rest of the hall was silently listening to the triad continue. "WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND NEVILLE COULD BOTH HAVE DIED-" Neville, who was sitting right beside Ron, flinched at the sound of his name echoing so loudly. Though he must have been the only person in the room whose attention wasn't entirely on the howler in front of Ron. He had his own letter clutched tightly in his hands, and he looked every bit as white as Ron was red as he read it.

"-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED," the howler still wasn't finished, and Sebastian was starting to think it never would be. It had gone up a level in noise and Mrs Weasley's voice was now so shrill it hurt to listen to. "YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN ENQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT, AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT. BACK. HOME." Silence rung in Sebastian's ears like a bell as the howler finally burst into flame. There was a few lone laughs into the silence before the hall slowly returned to the chatter and bustle from before.

Malfoy had a horrible grin on his face, his eyes still watching the Gryffindor table, but they were all soon distracted as prefects started walking down the tables handing out their new timetables.

"What day is it?" Nott asked as he looked at the sheet of parchment he'd just been given to see what lessons they had. A chorus of "Wednesday," answered him.

"We've got flying on Friday! Look," Rory said excitedly, leaning over to Archie.

Draco had noticed the same thing Sebastian had and they shared a look as Sebastian said aloud, "Defence first thing."

"Lockhart." Malfoy grimaced.

Not everyone at the table shared their trepidation about their new teacher, and Tracey exclaimed, "We get to be his first class! Isn't that exciting?" she asked to a few bobbing heads. "I can't wait."

They had to leave breakfast early to get back to their dorms and pick up the books they would need for the morning lessons. Mrs Norris was hanging around the entrance watching them suspiciously as they slipped past into the dungeons. Lockhart's seven books were piled on the end of their beds, and Sebastian made a quick deal with Draco to share so they wouldn't have to carry seven books each. Archie, who would be sitting with Matt seeing as they had Defence with Ravenclaw, decided not to bring any, aware his little brother would bring all of them.

They managed to get to the classroom on the first floor to the sound of the bell ringing. Lockhart wasn't anywhere to be seen but the door was open so they slipped inside. The Ravenclaws turned up within a couple of minutes. Matt lumbered in with all seven books in his arms, and he didn't envy the fact they'd had to carry them all the way down from their tower. Archie got up to relieve his brother as soon as he spotted him, setting them down on the table in the row in front of Sebastian and Draco. Lockhart still wasn't there a few minutes later, and the noise in the classroom was rising as they got impatient.

"Well," someone said from the doorway, loud enough to be heard over the din and they all turned towards the sound. Lockhart had arrived. His turquoise robes swished as he positioned himself, one hand on the door handle, the other arm leaning up against the doorframe. He was posing, filling the doorway and holding the position as he smiled around at all of them. "I'm here," he said once there was complete silence. His grin grew bigger and then suddenly he was sweeping down the aisle towards his desk.

He came to a stop and Sebastian saw a moment of hesitation on his face as he looked at the classroom full of faces before it disappeared. He stepped forward and picked up one of Pansy's books from her desk in the front row, turning it in his hands so that his self portrait that adorned the cover was smiling out at them beside the real thing. "Me," he said and paused to grin at them before launching into what was obviously a prepared speech. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, third class, Honorary member of the Dark Force Defence League and five time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award - but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon banshee by smiling at her!" Here he paused again to await laughter that wasn't forthcoming. He quickly passed Pansy's book back to her and took a different tack.

"And you," he said, sweeping his arms wide as if he had just realised they were there. "My first class. Such an honour." Sebastian was sure he meant for them not him. "How unpredictable the future is. If you had but told me when I was your age and sitting right there that I would be standing up here as a best selling author, winner of many awards and now a teacher at the best school in the world. Well, I may have taken a few moments to believe you." There were a few giggles from the girls at the front this time and they only encouraged him. "When Dumbledore approached me personally about the job, there was only one answer I could give. The poor man needed my services and, after all this school had given me, how could I refuse in its hour of need?"

Sebastian resisted the urge to smash his head down on the books in front of him as Lockhart kept talking. He'd never met a man who was so accomplished at taking so long at saying nothing, and he'd had to sit through his fair share of political dinners and events.

Sebastian mind wandered, so he startled when, a chunk of time later, Lockhart clapped loudly and pushed up from where he'd been leaning back against his desk. He wasn't the only one who'd jumped, quite a few of the girls who had been staring dreamily at Lockhart jumped too, but at least he'd been staring at his desk.

"I see you have all bought a complete set of books." At least a third of the class hadn't, but Lockhart ignored this. "Well done. And, to get to know each other better, I thought we'd start today with a little test." Lockhart pulled a sheath of papers from his desk and Sebastian groaned, wishing he'd chosen to sit next to Archie. If he'd known there'd be a test, he would have made sure he had. He didn't think he remembered anything from Quirrell's mutterings last year.

"Now, don't turn these over," Lockhart said as he placed the papers face down on their desks. "Yes, I know," he said, raising his arms in a placating gesture. "I know how excited you all must be to get started but fair is fair. Wait until everyone has one." He passed the last few out and returned to stand beside his desk. "You may start now."

Sebastian turned his paper over. His eyes travelled down the questions and he couldn't help but huff out a surprised breath. He was too shocked to even laugh at the absurdity. A mixture of relief and pure, complete bemusement flooded him until his brain came to a stand still and he had to reread the first question.

 _1\. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?_

All of the questions were like that, Gilderoy Lockhart this, Gilderoy Lockhart that. He glanced across at Draco who had the same look on his face. Their eyes met and they had to quickly look away from each other to stop from bursting out laughing.

He looked back at the paper, it was three double sides of questions all the same theme. He had no idea what to write. He hadn't read any of the books but he could hear the sound of quills scratching away at parchment and even Draco had started writing something.

What was Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?

Sebastian looked up at the man. He was wearing blue robes trimmed in gold and was standing as if he was having a statue carved of him. A golden statue in the centre of the Great Hall for saving the school in its hour of need. Sebastian had to suppress a snort as he wrote 'gold' on the paper.

Some questions were easy to make up answers for but for others, Sebastian had no idea what to write.

 _What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?_

Sebastian had no idea, and he couldn't bring himself to write winning Witch Weekly's Best Smile Award. When Lockhart finally called time and started collecting up the papers, he'd only answered half of the questions and all of his answers had been made up.

Lockhart sat back on his perch and looked through the tests as they all sat in silence. Archie threw a look back at Sebastian, raising his eyebrows, and Sebastian had to look away again, covering his mouth with his fist.

"My favourite colour is lilac," Lockhart said, sighing dramatically. "Hardly any of you remembered that."

It went on, Lockhart looking through the tests and remarking on this or that answer, and this time Sebastian did drop his head against the table, trying to think of something, anything, to block out Lockhart's voice.

He looked up a while later at a sudden change in tone of the teacher's voice. "Look at the time! I'm afraid to say that we've all been so absorbed that the lesson has flown away." Archie snorted aloud but Lockhart carried on as if he hadn't heard. "I had brought something in especially to show you all. A little something to show you all how terrifying and dangerous the things we will be studying this year will be. One of the foulest creatures known to wizardkind." Even Sebastian leaned forward as his words took on a dangerous edge, but then Lockhart straightened up and that stupid smile was back. "You'll have to contain your excitement until our next lesson."

The bell rang loudly as soon as he'd stopped speaking, and Sebastian wondered if Lockhart had timed his words for that to happen as they all headed to their next lesson. When break came, they dropped their mountain of books off back in their dorms before heading back up to the third floor for Charms.

He and Archie got there early and took their seats at the end of a row. Sebastian put his bag on the table and hooked his foot around the chair leg next to him to stop anyone else sitting down as he chatted to Archie. They were still talking about Lockhart's ridiculous questions when the room filled up and someone pulled at the chair Sebastian was holding onto. It snapped back in place as it pulled against his foot. "It's taken," Sebastian said before turning around and realising it was Edgar. Archie laughed from behind him as Sebastian quickly removed his foot and his bag to let Edgar sit down.

Sebastian caught a dark look from Ernie, who had obviously just walked in with Edgar, before the boy went to sit somewhere else with Justin. Sebastian still wasn't sure why Ernie had suddenly decided to hate him. He didn't remember him being hostile last year.

"What were you talking about?" Edgar asked, bringing his attention back to him.

"Lockhart," he and Archie said in unison.

Edgar stilled from removing his things from his bag. "Oh?"

"He set us a test," Sebastian said.

"Yeah, the kind of test Justin will enjoy." Archie laughed at the confused look Edgar shot him but they said no more. Though the comment had drawn another set of angry glares from Ernie and Justin, who must have heard his name.

"Wait and see," Sebastian said to Edgar just as Professor Flitwick called for order.

Their first Potions lesson of the year followed Charms, and they were still heading down to the dungeons when Archie grumbled, "How is it fair that we have to share Potions with the Gryffindors again?"

"Never mind that," Draco said, cutting across Archie. "Do you think anyone has complained about Lockhart to him yet? I'll be writing to my father of course. But maybe we should tell Professor Snape?"

"And have him say what? It's not like it matters much to us. Let the NEWT students do it."

The Gryffindors were already waiting for them to arrive when they got to the dungeons, and they filed in silently as soon as the door opened. Snape watched them enter from the front of the dark room.

"This year," he said quietly, "you will be taking a further step on your journey into the world of potion making. Some of you will have to work much harder than others," his gaze lingered on Neville, "seeing as some of you were barely able to scrape a pass on your first year exams." He paused briefly allowing students to set up their quills and parchments and then started dictating to the class. "The potions you will be learning about this year will advance your grasp of the delicate ingredients used, going into more in-depth knowledge so that you will understand a little about, not just what a potion does but why. You will learn which ingredients have healing properties and the theory behind how they are used within the Wiggenweld potion, perhaps the most famous and widely used of healing potions available. You will not be brewing it as it is doubtful that, even after another year of instruction, many of you would have the ability to brew it successfully." Snape's gaze lingered this time on Sebastian, and he had to fight the smile that wanted to take over his features as Snape looked away again.

Like Charms had been, the lesson was mostly taken up with the professor talking about what they would learn and recapping what they'd learnt last year. Unlike Charms, Snape finished by setting them homework. "A foot on the skills you used last year, describing the proper method of preparing a cauldron and the right techniques for preparing ingredients."

Sebastian was glad they'd taken notes, Snape had spoken about pretty much everything they would need to include in the essay. It would be simple enough to change the bullet points into sentences.

"Fitzroy." Snape's voice cut through the shuffle of papers being packed away. "Stay behind."

Sebastian frowned, wondering what it was about, but nodded his understanding and stayed put as the others filed out of the room for lunch. He didn't think Snape would have mentioned brewing the Wiggenweld if he was in trouble for something, and he'd barely been at school long enough to get in trouble. Once the room was empty and the door closed, he approached Snape's desk with a smile on his face. "Sir?"

"Fitzroy. Last year you seemed determined to break every rule that was required of you. This year the same immature behaviour will not be allowed." Snape's words cut through Sebastian's relaxed demeanour straight away. He felt his face shut down, his smile disappearing as he stood straighter before Snape. "You will not be permitted a free reign to traipse about this castle as you wish. You will not go on any midnight wanderings, you will not undertake any harebrained, half thought out adventures like some lack wit, foolish Gryffindor. Am I making myself very clear to you?"

Sebastian nodded, swallowing tightly before managing a, "Yes, sir."

"Are you sure?" Snape asked, and Sebastian kept his mouth shut, waiting for the next jibe. He didn't have to wait long. "Because I seem to remember you ignoring my very clear instructions to _not break the rules_ last time we were in this position."

"I understand, sir." Snape watched him for a long moment in which Sebastian kept his eyes locked on the narrow arched window over Snape's shoulder.

"Very well," Snape said eventually. "I expect you to work hard in Potions, as I expect of you in all of your lessons, but you have an obvious aptitude in my subject. I will not let you sit back and let that go to waste."

"Yes, sir."

"Out."

Sebastian left quickly, pulling the door closed behind him and almost bumping into Archie, who was leaning lazily against the wall beside it waiting for him.

"What did he want?" he asked, pushing off the wall.

"Something about not breaking so many rules this year," Sebastian said, trying to act unaffected.

"You're not gonna listen to him, right? We're still practicing on the second floor."

Sebastian frowned, glancing over his shoulder to check Snape wasn't following them up to lunch, but the corridor was clear as they headed up the spiral staircase towards the entrance hall.

"He doesn't know about that. But-" he said quickly, cutting off Archie's grin. "We should wait for a week or two. To see if it's still clear. There might be other lessons or clubs that use that corridor this year. We might have to find somewhere else."

Archie just shrugged his agreement, not caring as long as he got to practice somewhere. "Speaking of clubs," he said as they left the dungeons. "Matt says I don't have to go gobstones anymore."

Sebastian couldn't help but laugh. If he'd been the one stuck with Archie complaining about it all year, he'd have decided the same.

The Great Hall was already full of students tucking into lunch as they entered, already settled into the old routine, and the hum of familiar noise washed over them as they made their way to the Slytherin table. It seemed the talk was back on Lockhart. "The fourth years just had him," Daphne told them as they sat down, motioning to where Miles and Adrian were sitting with some others a few places down.

Miles heard what they were talking about. "I somehow don't think his favourite colour being lilac will come up on our OWL's next year." Sebastian grimaced. It was annoying for them to be stuck with Lockhart but it was much worse for the older years. Those sitting OWLs and NEWTs this year would be in trouble.

 **...**

Herbology after lunch was in greenhouse two, which housed more dangerous plants, but it was otherwise uneventful and it meant that they got to their last lesson, History of Magic, late. A gaggle of Gryffindors were already there when they arrived. Too excited and jumpy to sit, they were leaning across each other and chattering madly.

They were so energetic that it took Sebastian a moment to notice their appearance. The whole lot of them looked like they'd had a niffler set on them. The girls were desperately trying to neaten their hair, which was knotted and pulled all over the place. And everyone's robes were screwed up. In some places Sebastian could see rips where they'd been pulled and torn.

"What the hell happened?" Sebastian muttered.

Professor Binns had started his lesson but no one was listening. A few people belatedly started taking out their things to take notes, but their attention was dragged away again when the door opened and Hermione, Ron and Neville all slipped in. All three looked even more bedraggled than the others. Professor Binns was still oblivious. He kept droning on as Daphne and Rory, who were sitting closest to the Gryffindors leaned back to whisper to Pansy. Sebastian watched as it was passed along the row. Until eventually Draco leaned back to them, a smirk on his face. "They had Defence," he said simply.

Sebastian felt his eyes go wide as he remembered what Lockhart had said about showing them a dangerous creature. Obviously, it hadn't gone to plan, and he was suddenly glad the professor had taken so long talking about himself.

There was no more information forthcoming than that, and they settled down to try to make sense of whatever Binns was saying, deciding falling behind in their first lesson of history of magic wasn't the best idea.

But finally their first day of lessons was over, and Sebastian and Archie were making their way down to the dungeons to dispose of their bags when they saw Edgar leaving Potions. Sebastian waved him over.

"Want to tell us what happened in Defence?" Archie said as soon as Edgar had reached them.

"How did you hear about that already?"

"We didn't," Sebastian said. "The Gryffindors showed up looking like they'd been attacked by goblins. All we know is they had Defence. So?"

"Pixies not goblins."

"Pixies?" Archie asked.

"Lockhart had a cage of Cornish pixies." Archie drew in a sharp breath and Sebastian spared him a glance as Edgar said, "He let them out. He thought he had the right spell but it did nothing."

"He's mad," Archie whispered. "I thought he was just rubbish but I think he's actually mad." Sebastian laughed at the excited glint he saw in Archie's eyes.

"He's got a nice smile though."

Sebastian stopped laughing. There was a beat of silence as he looked back at Edgar. "What?"

Edgar coughed, eyes flicking between the two of them before smiling. "That's what the girls keep saying."

Archie barked a laugh. "Like that makes up for him being rubbish. Girls are stupid."

"It was his first day though," Edgar said. Sebastian frowned at the defensive tone in his voice. "We should give him time, he was probably just nervous, wanting to impress."

"Nervous?" Archie laughed. "Edgar, he set a whole test about himself! He wasn't nervous!" Edgar shrugged uneasily, opening his mouth to say something, but Archie suddenly pointed a finger at him, cutting Edgar off. "I know what it is."

Edgar tensed, his jaw snapping shut.

"Lockhart's a Hufflepuff!" Archie all but shouted. And Sebastian couldn't help but laugh at the way Edgar sighed and rolled his eyes. "You don't want to say anything bad about him because he was a Hufflepuff."

"When that Hufflepuff loyalty runs out," Sebastian added, "and you realise he's a rubbish teacher, let us know, okay?"

"He's not even a hufflepuff. He was in ravenclaw." Archie raised his eyebrow at the information and Edgar blushed, stammering out "I just think we should give him time," as Archie laughed harder.

"We're going to put our bags away," Sebastian said dragging a still laughing Archie away by the arm and leaving Edgar standing in the entrance hall.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry I missed updating last month. Comments are always appreciated. Let me know what you think!**


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